Brothers in Arms
by Digintegrated
Summary: **COMPLETE!** FF7/FF8 Crossover and my 1st fanfic!... The story starts just after Adel's death, and Squall and his team are preparing themselves for the time compression. The time compression itself has been pushed too far... Feel free to R&R!
1. Starting the End

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BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

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Author's note : my first real fanfic on this site, in fact, if we don't take "In-&-Out-rospection" into count of course (By the way, you may feel free to have a look at this original piece). I've been under the Final Fantasy VIII craze since its release date in France, that is to say October 27th 1999. We Frenchies really appreciated this masterpiece from Squaresoft, which stuck me to my PSX for long hours and hours. I was really feeling "inside" the game. Sorry to my parents who despair to see their 22-year-old son still gaming! :-D

I would never have thought at that time that I'd carry on such a project. You see, I'm a Frenchie and the translation work isn't a sinecure. I hope nevertheless I won't do too many mistakes...

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Disclaimer : apart a little modification of scenario causing the crossover, all of this is Mr Sagakuchi San's property. Thanks to the Squaresoft teams anyway... Thanks also to Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits for the title of the fic.

And now, without further ado...

-~-

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CHAPTER 1

STARTING THE END

-~-

Squall couldn't take any more. After so many battles, so many adventures, he wondered if that mission was worth being accepted. But he had to succeed. Everything depended on him and the SeeD members who followed him from the start. "At least", he thought, "Rinoa wouldn't cause harm anymore. Edea wouldn't either. Ultimecia MUST die. I should not withdraw, their lives are at stake."

For a while, he examined the corpse, still shaking, of Adel, this half-man, half-woman sorcerer who reigned upon Esthar as a tyrant eighteen years ago. Laguna's story came again to his mind: he was remembering about the way he and his two companions, Kiros and Ward, had used to put an end to this dictatorship. This seemed amusing to him. How could a such awkward-by-nature man could succeed in making the most audacious coup-d'état ever attempted? And furthermore, becoming the president of the biggest and best technologically advanced metropolis in the world?

One thing embarrassed him overall however : Rinoa. The infamous sorcerer had assimilated her before Squall and his team could have turned up. Had she survived during the battle? Had Adel absorbed all of her life?

He saw then a part of the sorcerer's corpse twitching. A few seconds later, Rinoa, a bit bruised but _alive_, emerged from it. Squall sighed, relieved.

Zell squeezed his knuckles. "At last!", he said. "We've got rid of this drag queen."

Irvine nodded and started to reload his shotgun.

Laguna came, followed by Ellone. He could do nothing but being delighted by the feat our heroes had just carried out. But it wasn't time for congratulations yet. He had acknowledged the dangers the SeeD members were about to encounter. He would have been glad to take part, but he had to watch for Ellone. Who could know what might happen to her if he left and went for some adventure? Plus, Laguna had been waiting so many years before he could see her at last, in the Lunar Base, just before the Lunar Cry. As for Ellone, she could only use her gift to come back into the past. She hadn't received any combat training like Squall and his friends. She was obliged to stay too.

Rinoa was hardly standing and started to twitch. It was the time! Ultimecia was attempting to possess her spirit anew. Ellone approached the girl and concentrated. Rinoa kept cool for a while, then froze. Everything was going as previewed. Rinoa and Ultimecia's spirits were sent to the past.

Ultimecia was presently able to cast time compression.

"Now", Laguna said to Ellone, "make Rinoa come back."

Two seconds later, a quick flash passed through Rinoa's body. She groaned a bit, then finally came round.

"Time compression has started", Laguna declared to the SeeD group. "Now you will be able to travel through time and find Ultimecia. Good luck to you all.". Laguna and Ellone left.

Rinoa clang onto Squall's hand.

The walls of the room have begun to shake and wave in a very weird way. Zell could hardly stand. Selphie had already fallen upon the floor's surface that was becoming more and more fluid. Quistis couldn't get up too. And suddenly, the whole room disappeared and the six young people found themselves somewhere in the sky, falling and falling and endlessly falling...

"Squall! Where do we go like this?" Rinoa asked, frightened.

"I don't know...", the young man answered. "Stay with me and everything will be all right."

Their fall went on through an ocean. They dove through it, still vertically, and emerged on the other side of... How could that be possible? They had passed through an enormous ball of salty water, swarming with multicoloured fish. They were at the time only surrounded by an infinitely orangey sky. A flash of staggering light suddenly stopped their progress...

Where were they? They soon got an answer.

"I recognize this place!", Rinoa said. "Edea was standing here during our mission in Deling City."

They were indeed in "this" room. White curtains made a narrow passageway from a door to the half-circle-shaped remaining of the room. At its centre, Rinoa had noticed, as the group went in Deling City for the first time, a throne upon which Edea was sitting. It had been from this point that the girl got manipulated by the former sorceress, before being thrown as food for two Iguions.

But Edea wasn't there any more. This could mean only one thing: they hadn't "landed" in the day when they reached the Galbadian metropolis. When then? Their thoughts got broken by another flash, next to the throne. A strange-looking woman appeared. Her suit was almost Adel's. There was no doubt: it couldn't be anything else but a Sorceress! Squall drew his Gunblade out.

"A trick from Ultimecia.", he explained. "Time compression must have summoned them from the past. We have to get rid of them."

Squall and his team had learned enough at the Balamb Garden about supernatural forces , Sorcerers and Sorceresses, magic draw points and so on. But, apart from Edea their dearest matron, and Adel, they had never met other ones. Whatever... the main thing was to find Ultimecia.

Squall thought about Edea and Rinoa again. "Sure: they must have suffered during their bewitchment days.", he said to himself. "Ultimecia, you're living your last days!"

He rushed to the witch and in one blow, killed her. She disappeared.

"Squall!? What's happening?", Zell suddenly said, astounded.

Something astounding was occurring indeed. The landscape was changing... The walls were vanishing. They were not standing in Deling City, but besides the Garden main entrance, in the Isle of Balamb.

"We're back in the past! Why aren't we going to the future?", Rinoa asked, surprised.

"No idea about this...", Squall replied, as he knew that, considering the current status, if however the word "current" could have kept his full meaning in case of time compression, the Garden had taken off the Isle and had docked at Fisherman's Horizon.

"What the... Another one's incoming!", Selphie shouted.

It was indeed another witch. Taking some benefit from the general surprise she caused to our heroes, she cast a Thunder spell upon them. Quistis got rocked. Selphie couldn't stand.

"Try to stop this!", Zell shouted to the Sorceress, before rushing towards her, his fists clenched.

An opponent of that kind could hardly stop Zell when he was getting furious. The witch made no exception to this rule and was brought to the ground. Irvine finished her with his shotgun.

Unfortunately, they were already "leaping" to a new destination. They arrived at Timber, where a third witch was firmly expecting them.

"I'm taking care of her!", Quistis announced, ready to cast her Ultra Waves spell.

The landscape waved. The Sorceress couldn't stand the emissions from Quistis, and disappeared as fast as she had come.

Their fourth encounter took place at Winhill, the village where Laguna had taken care of Ellone during the past. Their next opponent straightaway cast a Firaga spell upon Rinoa. Blasted by the explosion, the girl fell down to the ground in the moment.

"Rinoa!", Squall shouted, panicked.

She couldn't say a word. Nevertheless she could sit. Squall helped her with a Cure spell.

"Thanks... It's my turn now, Sorceress!", she continued, before countering with a Holy spell.

White sparkles surrounded the Sorceress and passed through her body. This spell was lethal for her.

Quistis and Selphie joined their forces against their fifth enemy, located somewhere around Dollet. Having re-handled her rotator boomerang, Rinoa took upon herself to suppress the sixth Sorceress who had attracted them in the snow plains surrounding the Shumi Village. Then came the Fire Cavern, the railway leading to Fisherman's Horizon, Lunatic Pandora... Every single place they went back in was occupied by a Sorceress from the past times.

However, the young people landed in a completely unknown place. Nothing seemed familiar to them... The landscape in itself was weird... They had travelled the entire world on board the Ragnarok and they thought they know it to the slightest details. But not this part. Their "leap" had dropped them on a dry plain,, boarded by a high mountain range. It was nearly night-time.

Nobody had a slightest idea about their location. Their eyes had nevertheless converged on a kind of fortress, which heights and surface were really awesome. A huge tower was set on its middle. It could be easily spotted miles away. And above this imposing building... an enormous glowing meteor was inexorably getting closer to it! As they watched that scene, the six companions did not say a word.

A Sorceress interrupted their amazement. She looked more fearsome than the other ones. Her head was misshapen, and her twisted body had a pair of long arms that were nonchalantly crawling on the ground. As she appeared, the landscape turned into an immense fire field.

"Here we go again!", Squall announced laconically, a bit fed up, but still determined to play his usual role of SeeD.

****

Author's note : don't worry, it isn't over... ah, you thought so? ;-)

Just to tell you: I have noticed that the monsters, spells, items and even some character names aren't the same from US version to French version, whichever Final Fantasy I played. Most of the time the French translation has nothing to do with the original. To give you an example, X-ATM092 is renamed Goliath. _Et pourquoi donc??? _I had to check on the Internet for a complete walkthrough of the games then match the US names to the French ones by relying upon their properties... Wow... ::puffs::

Regards to Xing and all the FF.N staff. I recognize you try to do your best to keep your site running even during its re-building. Keep up the good work, guys. :-)

Friendly feelings go to Belphegor, my "firestarter". Bonne chance pour la suite de ta fanfiction! ;-)

And to all of you, see ya next chapter!

Digintegrated Hunter Bill


	2. Meeting

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BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

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Disclaimer : I own nothing, Squaresoft does own it all. Nice work, guys!

-~-

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CHAPTER 2

MEETING

-~-

The battle raged. Squall made the first blow by slashing the Sorceress' long left arm. As she seemed to expect such an attack, she retaliated with a Flare. Overwhelmed by the heat, the young man fell down. The witch then sent Selphie out of the scene as she was preparing herself to cast a Demi. The sight of a totally defenceless Selphie turned Irvine berserk and made him shot a burst of Fast Bullets to the magician. Bad luck: his shotgun got jammed! Zell started to rush, but was stopped dead by a Holy. Rinoa and Quistis were the only ones still standing. They concentrated their powers and created a formidable Thundaga, followed by a Raybomb, courtesy of Quistis. Their opponent didn't enjoy at all...

Irvine stopped in his shotgun repairing to cast in quick succession three Curaga spells upon Squall, Selphie et Zell. Once regenerated, the three young people took the opportunity to use physical attacks against the Sorceress. For sure, their assault was not in vain, however, the magician, never short of possibilities, summoned an Ultima against the whole group.

Squall had just enough time to shout "Watch out, lay down!" before being wrapped, he and the five other fighters, in an enormous, emerald green magical explosion. Ten seconds later, all of the SeeD were down. The witch was looking rejoiced and prepared for a second Ultima to cast, when Irvine, having repaired his shotgun, interrupted her momentum with a burst of Dark Bullets. The Sorceress stood there, frozen... She couldn't cast any spell any more... It was _the_time! Despite his wounds, Squall stood back up, ran to the witch and tore her to shreds. She exploded from all sides and the SeeD were magically drawn out of the fire field to find themselves, a moment later, in a place that was familiar for them...

They were outside a kind of temple, as they noticed the colonnades in front and right of them. Ivy was growing on those colonnades. There was paved floor. _Was it possible? _Squall thought. _Our Orphanage! _

Rinoa had never known the orphanage in the past, but she actually recognized it. The room on the right side had fallen down as time passed. As they had seen it collapsed during their return after their victory against Galbadia Garden, the group saw it intact. They entered: nobody was here. Even Edea, their dearest matron, was missing. They went through the dorm: everything was in order. No cracks in the walls, totally intact, as in their past souvenirs. The young people contemplated the room, but didn't say a word. Then they headed outside, for the beach, where they used to play as kids. Nobody again. The sky was azure blue, the limpid waves were crushing upon the rocky headland where the lighthouse was, and nobody in sight.

"Do you know where we're supposed to go?", Rinoa asked Squall with a doubtful tone.

"No idea..." Squall replied. He had the impression of repeating himself.

But the group knew it rapidly...

A moment later, the SeeD saw the landscape changing, but weren't moved to another place. On the contrary, they could still saw the sea, the rocky headland, the sky. None of this was changing its shape or place. However, the lighthouse was no more. The Orphanage was disintegrating and became even more ruined than the one in their original era. As the beach disappeared, our heroes witnessed a really weird scene...

The sky had become dark. Above the sea, an enormous granite block was floating. It almost measured the Garden's surface and was linked to the cliffs by huge iron chains. The block was bearing a castle, whose proportions were outstanding, as outstanding as the meteor-threatened fortress Squall and his companions had seen during their endless leaps through space and time. A chain was going from the Orphanage beach-side exit, and was going straight to the entrance of the castle, a braced front gate that was at least thirty feet high. Then they noticed, on top of the building, two towers linked by a kind of sentry-box, adorned here and there with monster statues, one might easily have noticed from a distance these Imps or Blue Dragons representations. Between the team and the chain, many dead bodies were strewn, they were all young people in white SeeD uniform. "_Future SeeD_...", Squall thought, as he saw this horrible thing.

Rinoa hung on to Squall who almost involuntarily put his arm around the girl's back. Zell was seething with impatience. Selphie and Irvine didn't want to laugh anymore. Quistis was thinking the same. They all knew they were soon going to reach their target, because this big building couldn't be nothing but Ultimecia's citadel. This unhealthy atmosphere reinforced their desire to accomplish their mission as soon as possible. So they headed towards the chain.

At that moment, an explosion rang out. A light green flash had appeared near the entrance gate. A black-caped man got out of it, watched around him without however noticing the SeeD, headed to the gate, opened it then disappeared inside the castle. "_Who could this be?_", the young fighters thought. They remained surprised for a while, then went on their track again. The floating chain was stable and broad enough to allow the group to cross it, the six people at a time. None of them trembled, none of them risked falling in the sea. But once they all reached the granite block, they saw a second explosion of green light near the gate. Once the light faded, they could distinguish a group of people, laying on the ground, apparently unconscious.

First, they saw a middle-aged man, with short blonde hair, wearing green pants, a blue jacket and big shoes. Weird glasses were gripped on his forehead. Near his left ear was a pack of cigarettes. He was carrying in his gloved hands a spear, almost as high as him. The second man they noticed after was a brown-skinned giant. He had green pants on him, they were like those worn by the first man, but ampler. His shoes were enormous. His torso was only covered by a vest, He was nearly bald and had a black moustache and beard. Squall and his friends were intrigued by the juggernaut's right arm, that ended with a gatling, looking like the SAM08G weapon pods. Close to him, a girl was laying, wearing a bra and a short black skirt. She had elbow protections and battle gloves, like Zell. At last, next to the door, a young man had appeared, wearing purple trousers and a purple shirt. He was blonde, and his long hair were forming quills that went all sides, quite like Zell's but worse. He was also wearing large-sized shoes, shoulder pads and was carrying a big sword, whose blade seemed as sharp as Squall's Gunblade, but thicker. Squall never saw anyone else but SeeD members handling a big sword like this, apart from the biomechanical Iron Giants. Was this young man a SeeD? Certainly not... Nevertheless, after noticing the insignia on the shoulder pads, Squall thought that the man might belong to some army corps, regiment, squadron...

The four new comers remained still for some time, then regained consciousness. The young man with a quill haircut stood up first and noticed the SeeD group.

"Excuse me...", he said with a hesitating voice.

Squall came closer. He was a bit suspicious but first of all, he wanted to know the new comers' intentions. "_After all, perhaps they're no danger for us_", he thought.

The unknown resumed his speech:

"Have you ever seen a man with a black cape passing around?"

As they heard this question, all the SeeD got struck with amazement. So there would be a link between the man in black and those four people coming from nowhere?

"Indeed, he has entered this castle... You know him?"

"It's our arch-enemy. If he's left alive, the world could be destroyed!"

General astonishment for the SeeD group... consequently, they would have TWO enemies to destroy?

As he saw the group surprised, the young man continued:

"We were about to make him give up the ghost and then I don't know how, but everything disappeared, in a second. We don't remember what happened next, but I know he's still alive..."

"We might help you if we had the time", Squall replied, "but we already have a mission similar to yours. Unless..."

"What?"

"Unless there exists a link between your man in black and our enemy. _She_ might be the one who has brought you here", Squall resumed.

"Who's _she_?"

"Ultimecia... A Sorceress from the future whose aim is compressing time in order to eradicate all life forms in the universe. Maybe she went further than we have thought."

The two people hesitated.

"Apparently, we have one thing in common.", the unknown continued doubtfully.

"You may be right. I think the best we can do is acting together and find a way to bring light upon this mystery. What do you think about it?", Squall suggested.

"Mmmm... I wouldn't have liked challenging you, in view of your number superiority", the unknown said, taking an interested look upon Squall's team. "If you wish... I accept."

"All right", Squall said.

The two fighters shook their hands.

"I'm Squall Leonheart, leader of this group. And you are?"

"Cloud. Cloud Strife."

****

Author's note : I know I'm repeating myself but I do sincerely hope I haven't make language mistakes. Please don't be too strict with me if I made some anyway. 

Regards goes to Little Miss Anarchy for being my first English reader.

To everyone, until the next chapter!

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	3. Gathering

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BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

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Disclaimer : There we go for a change! I own a slight modification of the scenario, to be detailed in the forthcoming chapters: Cloud and Squall will have to... oops, I was about to say too much. Surprise! ;-) However, Squaresoft is the rightful and lawful owner of the remaining. I still admire your work, Mr Hironobu Sagakuchi :-)

-~-

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CHAPTER 3

GATHERING

-~-

The three other people, still laying on the ground, had regained consciousness in the meantime. The girl with long hair asked Cloud:

"What happened? Where's Sephiroth?"

Then, as she noticed the SeeD group:

"Who are they?"

"People who've been put in the same jam as ours.", Cloud answered. "They've just seen him entering this castle and offer their help."

"What? Damn!"

The gatling-armed man was not rejoiced at all.

"Calm down, Barrett...", the girl replied.

The spearman approved.

"She's right. No time for going berserk. We're gonna find that Sephiroth, whatever happens."

He was back up and had started to smoke a cigarette.

"Tell me, _that_ Sephiroth is indeed this man in black we've seen going in, right?", Rinoa asked.

"Right.", Cloud answered. "No ambiguity about this, that's his name. We just have to know if there exists a link between him and your enemy, Ultima...how does it go again?"

"Ultimecia."

"Yeah, Ultimecia...". Cloud watched around him. "But... there are people missing!"

"What people?", Squall asked.

"We were eight and now there's only four of us left! They must have remained back there... they were not able to fight anymore when Sephiroth turned up. Looks like you've come right on time..."

"If you think so...", Squall continued with a cold voice. He didn't wanted to be responsible of four extra lives, however, if these four people were indeed linked to their SeeD mission, maybe he would accept to bear this responsibility. 

"By the way...", Cloud resumed. "Here are my battle companions: Cid..."

"Nice to meet you, guys", the man with the spear said before drawing on his cigarette.

"Barrett...". The giant nodded.

"...and my friend since childhood, Tifa."

"Nice to meet you.", the long-black-haired girl answered, smiling.

Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis, Selphie and Irvine introduced themselves in turn.

"I might look idiot", Barrett asked the SeeD group, "but have you been trained for battle or have you been taught something that way?"

"Yes, we're going to prove it", Squall answered. The young man looked a bit more delighted as he heard the word "battle". The six SeeDs drew their respective weapons out; Zell, who had no weapon but his fists, started a demonstration of his punch-and-kick combos, that drew Tifa's attention.

"Okay, I have proof.", Barrett said.

"Listen up", Cloud interrupted. "We have a world to save or I should rather say... _two_ worlds."

"True.", Squall continued, with his usual serious tone. "We will not go further by trying to impress ourselves. Everybody to Ultimecia's castle."

The ten people made their way to entrance. A cloud of white smoke went through the gateway.

Once they got inside, a bright and green shine blinded them all. When it dimmed, the fighters could see the entrance hall at last. The room had a square surface, a waxed floor and a balustrade that went from the left wall to the right one, passing by the back. There was a S-shaped staircase with a red carpet that allowed access to it. Many candelabrums were providing light for the room. The room itself had, among other things, four exits, one on each side, on the upper level, the last one on the left, downstairs.

"One really has to be nuts to live here", Zell remarked.

"You're telling me!", Barrett approved.

They gazed at the room for a while, then Cloud exclaimed:

"My materia! It's not glowing anymore!"

"Your what?", Selphie asked.

Cloud showed his sword. The SeeD members could notice many coloured crystalline stones inlaid into the base of the blade.

"They allow us to use magic powers when we carry them.", Tifa explained. "Apparently, they will make no response."

"Damn! Mine too!", Cid and Barrett said, almost at the same time.

Rinoa seemed to understand the serious situation. She tried to cast a Cure spell several times, but failed.

"Ultimecia...", she said at last. "She has neutralized our magic powers."

At the moment, Squall's body came surrounded by a white aura. Many light beams flooded out from him, converged above the group and took the form of a magnificent bird creature. Its multicoloured body had two huge white wings, and its fine head ended with a long blue beak. It was Eden, the Guardian Force found by the SeeD team in the Deep Sea underground facility.

"Guardian Force?", Cloud questioned.

"They are magical spirits who grant us their powers and allow us to cast spells, as you do with your materia, I think.", Squall explained, since he had made a junction with Eden.

The majestic flying creature appeared as a contrast with the almost horrifying atmosphere that reigned in the room. Eden looked down to the group and said to them:

"As you have noticed, Ultimecia has forbidden you to use your magic powers in her citadel. You will neither be able to cast spells nor summoning us, even summoning myself. However, I have a bit of time left to provide you with some crucial information."

The group listened to Eden attentively.

"Ultimecia is protected by a dozen minions, all very powerful. You must vanquish them all to claim all of your magical abilities back. These servants are wandering somewhere in the citadel."

The Guardian Force examined Cloud's group.

"You... You must have come from the past.", it told them. "From the time that preceded the Cataclysm. From this remote period when the planet's energy crystallized itself to turn into en materia. Ultimecia had to search really far away to bring you here."

"Cataclysm?", Cloud asked intrigued.

"Unfortunately for you, I have not enough time to explain you.", Orbital resumed. "Nevertheless, it appears that the time compression has made appear a new place in this castle, in which a vast amount of knowledge about this world and both your enemies is hidden. If you are clever enough to find this place, luck will shine upon you when you face Sephiroth and Ultimecia. From now on, hurry, brave fighters, and may time play for you and not against you!"

The Guardian Force disappeared.

"Well, we have our weapons left.", Cid remarked.

"I think we're gonna need them now.", Barrett went on, pointing his machine gun arm towards the balustrade's stairs.

Something had appeared on the top of the stairs. It was a reddish four-pawed monster, looking like a sphinx.

"Welcome...", the creature declaimed with a taunting voice. "My name is Sphinxaur, and you will not live long here."

"Sure?", Cloud retaliated.

He and Squall were already gone upstairs and were staring at the creature, straight to its eyes. It swung its claws towards Cloud who knew it was coming right for him, and dodged.

"Lay down, I'm coming!", Barrett shouted as he went up, bursting his machine gun upon Sphinxaur. The two swordsmen had just enough time to crouch. Stopping Barrett once he turned berserk was a complete madness. Sphinxaur was hit in the head, but managed to retaliate with a Thundaga. The fighters were down in a moment, but got back up easily.

Cloud dashed to the monster and wounded him with a single blow from his big sword. Squall followed him and pulled the trigger of his Gunblade while hitting Sphinxaur. The explosion of the weapon rocked the creature who didn't manage to recover. Sphinxaur had soon begun to blow into dust. In a brief minute, there was no more of it.

"One down already!", shouted Barrett, triumphant.

"And others will follow...", Squall added.

****

Author's note : first cross-over fight... yeah, I made it a bit too short, but you see, Ultimecia's first minion is the easiest to defeat, even if all that you can do are physical attacks.

Greetings time:

Shadowrune12: thanks.

Kismit: nice from you to read too. Thanks for the piece of advice, I'll try to refer to it.

Gemini83: Woaow! ::startled:: You really enjoy it? ::touched:: Well, I think I could say so about your post FF7 fanfic. I'll do my best to satisfy you too.

Last thing: I finished the translation of this chapter while listening to "Eyes on me"... ::sniffs, eyes flooded:: ... that was such touching lyrics... but I don't know if a songfic was made from it on FF.N, anyone could tell me?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this and see ya next chapter! ;-)

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	4. Co-operative Work

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BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : none of this is mine, all of this legally belongs to Squaresoft. Everyone okay?

-~-

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CHAPTER 4

CO-OPERATIVE WORK

-~-

"Well, what are we doing now, lads?", Cid finally asked, once the Sphinxaur was completely disintegrated.

"We should part into three groups.", Cloud suggested. "Squall and myself are going to the center door."

"I come with you.", Tifa said. "Me too.", Rinoa added. It was obvious that the two girls wanted to remain with their respective partners at all costs.

"Selphie and I are going right.", Irvine suggested. "However, in my opinion, Mr Machinegun's help would be very appreciated..."

"The name's Barrett, in case you've forgotten.", the concerned man precised.

"All right, Mr Barrett. I've understood."

The three people left looked at each other, consulted each other, then Quistis declared:

"We take the lower left door. Good luck to you all!"

The seven other people all answered by a "Good luck!" nearly in chorus, then each group rushed into the doorway of its choosing.

~~

The room on the right was lighted by the same candelabrums found in the entrance hall. It also had a balustrade, upon which Barrett, Irvine and Selphie were standing. A staircase was going down to a paved floor. A rope was dangling from a hole in the ceiling and could be pulled from the bottom of the stairs. The three people went down and examined the place. They saw a plate, set on the wall near the rope and read:

__

When the bell you will ring

The black death I will sing

"Hmmm... that's quite enigmatic...", Barrett said.

"Shall we pull the rope?", Irvine asked.

Selphie was not very delighted about it.

"Er... tell me, guys... The black death...you're really not afraid of it?", she said, a bit frightened.

"Don't worry", Irvine answered in a confident voice.

"Even if it's coming closer, it won't stop me.", Barrett added, determined.

So he pulled the rope. The gloomy, haunting, doleful sound of a bell rang out. A minute later, silence came back. Nothing had happened. Irvine seemed relieved, but Selphie remained suspicious.

Apart from this bell, nothing showed any interest in the room. Barrett followed the two other SeeD members, already rushing under the balustrade to the next room.

~~

After they went through a small corridor well-furnished in tapestries, the group made of Quistis, Zell and Cid arrived at a large room, a little bit smaller than the entrance hall. The ceiling was dome-like. A huge chandelier was hung up on it. The room, however, was a real mess. The balustrades looked inaccessible, since the stairs leading to them were blocked or partly destroyed. A trap door was set right in the middle of the room, just beneath the chandelier. Zell was curious to know what this trap concealed.

"Stand back a bit, guys, Zell the destructor will clear the way!"

He put all of his force upon the trap door. It didn't budge.

"Zell the destructor, hunh?", Cid said sarcastically. Quistis was laughing up her sleeve.

Zell was quite disappointed but regained his rage. "Hah, you think it like this! Try this, you too, try!"

"Cool, keep your rage for Ultimecia's minions, man. I was about to give you a hand."

They tried once again to move the trap door but couldn't move it one inch.

"This damn trap won't open. Must be blocked or something...", Cid noticed.

"We're wasting our time here.", Quistis added. "Should better... watch out!"

The chandelier was falling upon them!

Zell, Cid and Quistis had just enough time to flatten themselves against a wall. The chandelier landed in a deafening noise, blew up the trap door and ejected Squall and Cloud who had trodden upon it from the upper floor.

"Any damage?"

Tifa was talking to them from the balustrade.

"No, looks all right...", Cloud replied.

"Damn, can't you figure this out! We were almost done for, with this dangling head-chopper!", Cid shouted.

"Could we know what would happen?", Cloud retaliated.

"Whatever...", Squall said, with his usual laconic tone. "We're all alive, that's it."

Zell saw that the trap was smashed.

"Hey Squall! You gave us a heck of a hand there, look!"

They all looked to the opening. They could only see from it a spiralling staircase, goin deep through a kind of cellar. "_Hey, wait a minute, lads..._", Zell thought, "_The chandelier was not upon it a second ago...? But..._"

"...What the heck is this?", he finally said. "This gizmo's gone back up!"

Indeed, the chandelier had taken back its original position.

"What did you made fall from up there?", Quistis asked them.

"We just wanted to cross the chandelier in order to get to the other door, up there.". He showed them the balustrade. It went from the door Quistis and her team had taken and covered half the dome, being almost touched by the chandelier. Two double doors, the first up, the other one down, were the two exits, the trap door excluded. Squall and his team, as they had taken the centre door, located right behind the Sphinxaur, found themselves on the upper part of the room. They wanted to get to the other upper door but the shaky chandelier had broken off their track.

"This thing will go down and up every time?", Quistis said.

"Maybe with this lever...", Cid said, thinking. "I saw it moving while this cursed thing was falling upon us."

He showed them the aforesaid lever, located on the right side of the doors. He pulled it. A mechanical noise could be heard.

"Tifa! Rinoa! Are you still there?" Cid asked.

The two girls answered.

"Try to walk upon the thing now.", Cid ordered, as he was clinging to the lever for fear of seeing it going off his hands. So they did. The chandelier remained motionless. They reached the upper door without any problem.

"Hey, well done!", Zell congratulated.

"Okay. Cloud and me are going back up the chandelier. Cid, wait for our passage before letting go. Where have you come from, by the way?"

Quistis showed them the left door with her whip.

The two swordsmen hurried, went through the tapestry corridor, went back upstairs in the main hall and were, without a problem, by Tifa and Rinoa' sides on the balustrade in a moment.

"Okay, let go. I guess you go down, right?", Squall asked.

"Right.", Quistis answered.

"Well, see ya."

Quistis, Zell and Cid went down the stairs leading to the cellar, while Squall opened the upper door.

~~

"How superb pictures!", Irvine said admiring.

Barrett, Selphie and him had entered another room provided with a balustrade. This room had approximately a dozen paintings hung on the walls. The paved floor was painted with a quite particular pattern. The left wall was covered by the biggest painting, the smaller other ones were divided up on the other walls and on the upper floor.

Selphie examined the paintings. During this time, Irvine and Barret took the opportunity to chat.

"How did you do this to your arm?", Irvine asked, intrigued by Barrett's machine gun arm.

"I lost my hand in an attempt to save a friend. These scum shot on me while I was trying to pull out of an abyss.", the juggernaut answered.

"Who?"

"The ShinRa armed forces. The ShinRa's a bit liable for all this... But now, they've had what they deserved."

"ShinRa?"

"Oh yeah, I see you haven't heard all the history yet..."

Barrett explained Irvine, whose attention was ever growing, the history of the ShinRa, their link with the planet energy and Sephiroth a.k.a. the man in black, "the guy who summoned the Meteor and the Weapons."

"The big meteor floating over the super-mega-iron-fortress, right?"

"What... you were there?!"

"We just passed by. Then we came upon this castle."

"Man..."

Barrett was struck with surprise.

"This fortress, as you say, is Midgar. The ShinRa resides here and from here they idiots are absorbing the planet energy."

"Is it how the land becomes so dry?"

"Exactly! You understand it quickly. You're a good guy, eventually."

Irvine was hesitating. This iron-fisted giant could be less threatening that he seemed? He had some apprehension when he asked him for help, but he was fearing less and less.

"How about your frined?", he asked.

"I had seen him again. He had blown up fuses. He had a shotgun implanted on his left arm and wanted to provoke me for a duel... He lost, I left him alive but he committed suicide..."

Barrett thought again about his ex-friend, then to Marlene, his adopted daughter. "_Hope that she's still alive..._"

"I may help you if you want it to.", Irvine suggested. "I can do special bullets for my shotgun. I never tried it for a machine gun yet but I think it could be feasible."

"You think so? I'd be glad to see it..."

"_After all, if that guy's got knows about firearms_", Barrett thought, "_I've been right when I joined him..._"

Selphie went back down the balustrade.

"Hey men! Come and see upstairs!"

Irvine and Barrett went upstairs. They looked down as they were shown by Selphie. The pattern painted on the floor was a clock with three hands and roman figures.

"8 hours 30 minutes 20 seconds? And what?", Barrett said.

"No! Look at the pictures!", Selphie replied, a bit annoyed.

Each picture had a Latin noun for caption, each one started by an I, a V or an X, as for...

"...the roman figures!". Irvine had understood. "Eight, Six, Four."

"VIII, VI, IV.". The trio looked at the biggest picture. Under it was a row of switches, each one had one of the twelve Latin words.

"Well, if you say the truth, you have to push the..."

He pushed three switches. The picture changed. Behind him was some kind of hovering yellowish-coloured robot, with no legs, twice as tall as Barrett. On its side was etched this word: "Trauma".

Selphie drew her Nunchaku out. The other two reloaded their weapons.

~~

Halfway through the stairs, Quistis could see the basement room better.

There were an alchemist desk, potions, bottles, a library... interesting... She would have enjoyed going down there, if the weird blue and orange monster was not there floating at the bottom of the spiral staircase, with its three red stings and keen eyes pointing towards the three mates.

"Bad luck, I have no Scan left...", whispered Quistis.

"Scan? In order to detect the enemy forces and weaknesses?", Cid said. "Wait, I'm gonna check."

Cid checked his weapon. One of the yellow stones inlaid on it was faintly shining. Satisfied by this, the spearman twirled his weapon, making some particular moves with it, then concentrated.

Ten seconds later, he could finally declare:

"Let's see... Tri Point, dragon-like creature... Vulnerable with Ice... or Fire... I don't know which one of them, it's quite blurred... Watch out when it uses el... I can't see what's next. My sense materia hasn't all of its efficiency."

"Efficient or not", Zell said, as he was getting impatient to fight, "here we go!"

~~

From the chandelier room, the four remaining people had come outside the castle, on a balcony. They could see the nocturnal sky for a while, then were caught by surprise by a flying, crystalline monster. All but his body was made of a solid precious stone. From this sparkling block came three arms, ending with claws, and a head that was crystalline too, and could remind them of the Grendels.

"Well done, miserable humans.", the monster said. "I'm Krysta and you won't last long here."

"Whatever...", Squall answered him coldly.

Him and Cloud had drawn their big swords out. Rinoa and Tifa, standing a little on the back, were expecting their assault.

****

Author's note : Now it's getting serious. The 10 people fighting three enemies _at the very same time. _Something that hasn't occurred (as far as I know) in an RPG... Well something like this _did _occur in FF9 (in the 4 shrines quest) but you only had to fight one enemy, the Earth monster.

How will it end up? The answer is in the next chapter! But now, ladies and gents, the GREETS time:

Ethrial, Double Bass: thanks for reading my Rinoa story, I'm glad you find it sweet :-)

Belphegor (the Weird one): nice review you left me. I hope you'll manage to get through your HP fic. I'm all with you, don't give up! ;-)

Emaeleigha: now I understand your point of view when you told me about your interpretation of the word "insane", remember? Just to tell you: it's a bit because of my family, they've all read the four HP books and I'm the only one not interested in them, so they had kind-of reproached me, you see... that's why I took this "defensive" stance while I reviewed you. That's it. Thanks for reading my "In-&-Out" by the way :-)

Callo(Me!): didn't registered, right? No, I don't blame you for that. Thanks for your visit. I'll think about reading your FF9 stories as I have the time :-)

Little Miss Anarchy: Really nice support, L.M.A.! I would also add: nice to encourage other people to review. I'll keep it going... By the way... Zell and Tifa together... now I have an idea for those two, being the heroes for a chapter. Which one, I still don't know but it's a project I'm not ready to scrap, sure! :-)

To you all, I'm about to write Chapter 7 in Frenchie. I hope I would not take too much time until I'm through with the translation of this one. Hope you enjoyed this and see ya later!

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	5. Triple Front Line

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : all related indicia belongs to the people at Squaresoft, except for ONE item that I claim as mine. Find which one! ;-) Don't worry I don't want to claim the others!

-~-

****

CHAPTER 5

TRIPLE FRONT LINE

-~-

****

"Heh, I got you!"

Selphie had tried unsuccessfully to cast various elemental spells upon Trauma. The Tornado spell, operative and efficient, really delighted her. Barrett and Irvine, front-lined, were dodging the robot's arms swinging as they could and hadn't slowed down their shots. They didn't understand why Selphie limited herself to use magic while Ultimecia prevented them to do so, but the sight of the Tornado particularly amazed them.

"How did you do that?" Irvine asked between two gunshots.

"Er... remember the monster at the staircase? The Sphinxaur? Well, after its death, I felt like something...", Selphie replied.

"Explain that later!", Barrett broke in with a stern tone. "From now on, go on with your draughts... Mmpff!"

Barrett had just taken a serious arm punch from Trauma.

"Wait there, you pile of nuts and bolts!!!"

The giant shot a burst with his machine gun arm on the robot. It could stand shots very easily, which rendered the gunners' work harder, but that burst was a burst too much. The robot's left arm was so much damaged after Barrett's assault and became inactive. Selphie added some more with a second Tornado, which almost threw their enemy off balance.

Irvine, however, had stopped shooting.

"Irvine? What on earth are you doing?", Barrett shouted.

The sniper had another idea in his mind. He checked his belt, took around twenty bullets, then started to load them one after one, with infinite precautions. But as he was about to load the last one, the robot opened his body and pointed out of it a canon, then used it against the group. Thirty shots or so later, Selphie and Barrett were in a dreadful state.

~~

Tri Point was observing Quistis, Cid and Zell as they were going down the spiral staircase leading to it. Its red stings, positioned around his head in an equilateral triangle, were pointing towards the team. Quistis asked the spearman:

"Tell me, Cid... you've just made use of a materia, right?"

"Indeed, I... Oh yeah, our magic! This one was not activated after we came into the Castle.". He checked his spear again, a bit closer. Three out of the eight materia were faintly shining.

"So our magic would come back?", he then said. "How is it possible?"

"Well, we're going there or not?". Zell had already reached the bottom of the staircase and taken his fighting stand. For him, it was going now... or now. Quistis didn't want to make him wait, so she came down too, followed by Cid. He was hardly downstairs when Zell jumped, bounced upon a crate and gave a well-placed kick on Tri Point. Cid wanted to be sure his materia were working properly and tried a Fire spell. The creature felt a bit stifled under the heat. Quistis threw her whip and lashed the monster's head. It oddly looked as if it appreciated the lash. It was true: its three stings were unleashing sparks that quickly became electric arcs, running in the triangle made by the red points. A few seconds later, Tri Point cast a lightning chain upon the fighters.

"So this is it. Watch out when it uses electric attacks.", Cid said.

The spearman was a bit off-balanced. The electric shock made his cigarette fall.

Quistis attempted a Fira. The spell could hit the monster, who immediately retaliated with his lightning bolts. The young woman could hardly stand the shock.

"Miss Quistis!". Cid, followed by Zell, rushed to Quistis. She could still stand, although she was remarkably rocked by Tri Point's attack.

"I have an idea. We're going to use its own weapon to make it backfire.", she said. "Cid, do you have a rope?"

"I got one for your service, Miss."

"Good. Could you lend your gloves to Zell?"

"Why for?"

"You'll understand later. So?"

Cid took off his gloves and passed them to Zell. After the young man put them on, Quistis exposed her plan.

~~

Krysta was making life difficult for Squall and Cloud. Its crystalline body was as hard as rock and gave him a natural protection against physical attacks. Tifa was close to exhaustion. Rinoa was dodging Krysta's claws swinging as she could, but the girl had already taken too much.

Nevertheless, as for Selphie and Cid, Rinoa had "felt" that some of her magic was operative anew. She concentrated and tried to fire a Meltdown upon the monster. An enormous energy ball took form between her hands. Squall and Cloud noticed it and ran behind their team mate. Soon after, a wave of heat went through Krysta who turned purple. The spell had worked.

Squall was surprised but didn't want to waste his time asking questions. He rushed towards the monster and made his Gunblade explode over the crystal body, which started to bear dangerous cracks. Cloud, willing to be useful, tried a Wall on All. The swordsman was greatly disappointed to see that nothing happened first, but suddenly, big coloured prisms surrounded the four fighters.

"How?", the creature said. "How is it possible?"

Cloud took advantage of its surprise to deal it a well-placed blow with his sword. Having regained a bit of her strength, Tifa used her Somersault kick, after which came immediately a Rough Divide from Squall. After all these flares, the monster was not feeling good at all.

"Wait a moment...", it finally said. "ULTIMA!"

This word usually sounded like a funeral bell when the fighters heard it. Only this time, they were not feeling that dreadful, and they were right: when the emerald green magical flare took form, it came deflected by the four protective Walls. The fighters got out of it, wounded, but _alive_.

After Krysta had used this Ultima as a kamikaze assault, it froze, fell upon the balcony and exploded into a myriad of crystal bits, as sharp as razor blades. The four people hurried and crouched. A few seconds later, nothing remained from the monster... nothing but a small glowing green-coloured prism. Squall got back up and took a closer look to the prism. He had already seen one like this in the Lunatic Pandora...

"What is that?", Cloud asked.

Rinoa and Tifa were also curious to know what this mysterious item was. Squall remembered... this artefact was the same as the one Quistis had found in Lunatic Pandora. The fighter, who also mastered the Blue Magic arts, had watched it with interest before assimilating it. Since then, she was able to cast particularly devastating Raybombs, even more powerful than X-ATM092 could have done during their first mission in Dollet...

"It's a Power Generator", the young man answered. "This item is very rare and looks very powerful. We have to keep it with care, it could be useful for us..."

~~

"Hey, you bunch of scrap iron! If you want to have a worthy opponent, you'd better have a confrontation with me!"

That was Irvine, taunting Trauma. The elite gunner was ready to shoot. Trauma too. The robot used its cannon first. Irvine had no problem in dodging the burst, but he got hurt, head on, by the right arm of the robot.

"Ouch!... Shouldn't have done this, man!", Irvine shouted victoriously.

Each time the robot was throwing its arms towards Selphie, Barrett or Irvine, he had to take some time to regain balance, and even more time because of his seriously damaged left arm. Irvine had noticed this and was about to take advantage of this weakness. He faced the robot and shot all of the bullets he had loaded before. It was Air Ammo. A hurricane surrounded the enemy who whirled, lost his left arm, fell down the ground and exploded.

A big heap of cinders, still smoking, was on the painted clock, on the floor.

"Oh my!", Barrett exclaimed. "Congratulations, Mr Fearless Shooter."

"Yeah...", Irvine approved. "But Selphie deserves to be thanked first... If she hadn't tried her Tornadoes, I would never have got the idea to take the suitable Ammo against that monster."

"You're right. Thanks for giving us a hand, Selphie.", the giant resumed.

The girl blushed.

"Er... you're welcome!", she answered.

"By the way, could you tell me more about our magic coming back?"

Selphie thought, then explained:

"To my opinion, Ultimecia isn't sealing our all of our magic on her own. She uses her minions to do this. Each time we kill one of them, the seal is broken, until all of them are out. Eden didn't actually told us about it..."

Hearing the name of Eden, made Barrett become puzzled. It was not his usual behaviour. He was not the kind of man who thinks, but he was more and more concerned about this Guardian Force.

"Er... something's wrong?", Selphie asked.

"No, no, nothing...", Barrett continued. "It was just about your Force, it... the big blue and white bird..."

"Well?"

"I have already heard her voice somewhere... but where?"

~~

Tri Point remained there, motionless, floating at the bottom of the stairs. Neither Zell nor Cid nor Quistis had stopped focusing their attention upon the creature. The two men were awaiting for Quistis' signal to take action.

"Now!"

Zell rushed like a rocket. He jumped, bounced and landed right upon Tri Point's reptilian head. Quistis made her whip turn and lash to ensnare the sting on the right. At the same time, Cid threw his rope to Zell who caught it and tied it around the sting on the left. This move was hard to do, since the creature started to shake. The puncher regained balance, gripped the upper sting and forced it to point upwards. On the floor, Quistis was pulling to the right, Cid to the left of the monster. Zell taunted it and gave him a Heel Drop on his head. Tri Point then attempted a chained lightning attack, but since its stings were moved apart, it couldn't manage to concentrate energy between them. At the time, it was no more standing the tension that the three people were exerting on its stings. It tried another electric jolt. Its stings were unleashing small bolts of thunder that Zell, thanks to Cid's gloves, could not feel. The SeeD sent another Heel Drop to the creature, then went back to the floor.

Everything was going as Quistis had foreseen: moving the stings apart were making Tri Point's electric attacks useless. The monster had completely discharged itself. Each of the three friends sent a Fire spell to finish it off.

Tri Point exploded, desegregated, then quietness came back in the cellar.

Quistis was wounded by the electric shocks from their enemy, now dead. Cid went to her.

"Are you all right?"

"Wait a minute...", she said. "There is something behind that wall."

She showed them _that _wall, which was facing the last stair. The bricks looked as if they were assembled recently, as they were several layers of mortar missing between them. Quistis concentrated for a while. Her eyes became whitish. She looked straight to the wall and cast Laser Eyes. Two lasers sprang from her eyes and struck the wall and made it collapse.

Behind the mess of bricks was an alcove. Inside the alcove, the three could see a shelf upon which a thick, leather-bound book. With the back of her hand, Quistis wiped the dust that was accumulated on it then read the title, which turned out to be very interesting for her:

__

BLUE MAGIC SPELLS

****

Author's note : it was hard for me to find ideas (e.g. New Ammo, Spell Book) to prevent myself from sticking to the PSX games too much. I hope I'll find more and more to spruce the story up.

Time to say hello to:

The guys who didn't understand why I kept writing BGU: go and read "The Lone Angel" to know what BGU is about. Thanks to you, I'll remember to say "Balamb Garden" instead. :-)

Steven and Angel: I'm glad you liked it. I really have the intention to go on.

Gemini83: one word: thanks. Your fic on FF7 also rocks too. Go on like this!

Lady Aliena / Mandy : thanks for your review! I hope you didn't find the time long between my two instalments. Indeed I took particular care in portraying the people, as well as I try to be as accurate as possible in my descriptions.

To you all, I have some to tell you. Did you enjoy this? Then if you have the time, feel free to explain why. You surely liked it for some reason. Same applies if you didn't like it. I accept flames only if they are wisely formulated. See you next instalment!

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	6. Setting things up

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : Watch out, fellows! I own _three things _this time, the rest legally belongs to Squaresoft. Everyone okay? So let's start.

-~-

****

CHAPTER 6

SETTING THINGS UP

-~-

"Blue Magic?", Cid asked.

"That's how we call the spells used by our enemies, that we can also learn to use back on them later on.", Quistis answered.

"Hey... looks like our Enemy Skills materia."

Cid then noticed that Quistis was remarkably exhausted by the fight against Tri Point.

"If our Fire magic is now operative, I'm going to try this too... White Wind!", the spearman announced.

A magic gust of wind wrapped the team. In a moment, Quistis was totally recovered.

"It's really working now? It wasn't shining 30 seconds ago!".

Zell quickly understood.

"Yeah! If this is true, the more minions we kill, the more magic we get back."

"Hmmm, this may be true... By the way, Miss Quistis, what a brilliant plan to destroy this electrical filth!"

"Thanks a lot...", she answered.

She had opened the book and started to turn some pages.

"So? What's written?", Cid asked.

"Let's see... _Ultra Waves_... _Basic attacking spell. The cerebral waves emitted by the attacker can stun his opponents and make them lose their balance. This spell is mainly used among insect-like creatures, and more particularly Caterchipillars. In order to learn it, _and so on, and so on... One of the first spells I have gained. Hold on, I'm going to search for more."

Quistis browsed through different spells. She didn't know most of them.

"_Dragon Force... Death Force_... Hey, _Aqua Breath_. Another one that I know."

Zell and Cid could have been bored to death, since that book only interested their team mate. However, as they recalled Eden's speech, they decided to wait patiently, trying to do something else.

"After all, every single detail could favour us...", Cid said to Zell.

"Yeah...", the young man answered.

"Warn us if you find something interesting, Miss Quistis. We're going to see by the side of the chemist's desk.", the spearman announced.

"All right."

The SeeD instructor had started reading again. She was revising the properties of the Fire Breath spell as the two other people were watching over the desk with particular attention.

"Do you know about all this gizmo?", Zell asked.

"Yeah, a little. In fact, I'm more mechanic than chemist but I bet it works all the same: 'must follow instructions."

However, all those bottles that were giving off suspicious smokes made him more and more puzzled.

"Erm... on reflection, I'd like not to touch this... What is...?"

A sheet of paper was set near the biggest bottle. A sort of mysterious writing was on it:

"_C.Spike + RF = Sh.P_"

Zell seemed to understand this weird message.

"See... _C.Spike_... Cursed Spike... I think it's about these dark spikes that some monsters leave behind them as they die... the other things, I don't really know..."

"Tell me, you just talked about Cursed Spikes, right?", Quistis asked as she had stopped reading her book. "Come and see."

She showed them the page.

"_Shockwave Pulsar_...". The name was circled and the page book-marked.

"_A particularly devastating spell that allows the attacker to imprison his opponents into a magical explosion. It is said that this spell is even more powerful than Ultima itself; however, its efficiency hasn't been really proved yet, since no Blue Magic user had succeeded by the day to craft the item that could allow him to learn that spell. Nevertheless, a single thing has been taken for true about this spell: for the rare times it has been summoned, bits of Cursed Spikes have been found at the points of impact_..."

"So _Cursed Spikes + something _would give that spell?", Cid wondered.

"It looks like somebody's trying to craft it, look... the name is circled and apparently, the experiment is on the way.", Zell remarked.

"Ultimecia...", Quistis thought.

She kept on reading and found out this interesting detail.

"_One should notice that this evil spell could also be countered. This parry, named Counterspace, would have been cast by one of Hyne's direct descendants as he would have been in a bad situation during a long battle against a Weapon. He would have succeeded in vanquishing the Weapon by experimenting the spell when the Weapon itself would have prepared to finish him with a Shockwave Pulsar . Unfortunately, the secret of the spell would have been taken away by the Sorcerer in his tomb. The only clue left by the magician before his death were these two words: Moon Stone_."

"So that _RF_... here we are! I think I got it!", Zell exclaimed. "We may have to refine the Cursed Spikes with our Guardian Forces... Shoot! It's true... our Guardian Forces are disabled."

"Yes but... look at the experiment.", Quistis warned.

One of the biggest jars on the left side of the desk was stoppered and set upon a portable stove, that was off. A glass pipe was running from the cork, passing through many glass bottles in which were some chemical products. This network ended into one of the black bottles that was still emitting smoke. In the left container, the three people could distinguish remainders of Cursed Spikes.

"Ultimecia must have attempted in simulating the item refining...", the instructor said.

"...in order to learn the Shockwave Pulsar", Zell added.

Cid didn't say anything, but has understood the potential hazard that was looming behind the whole team.

"Well, we've got to risk everything for everything.", he finally said.

"How?", Quistis asked.

"Have you got some Moon Stones or something like this? Show them all!"

Quistis and Zell drew them out. Cid examined them, took out several other ones from his pockets before grabbing the whole lot and putting it into an empty glass jar. He then removed the cork from the other one and used it to stopper the container of the Stones hermetically. After having set it upon the stove, he scratched a match.

"Hope you know what you're doing...", Zell asked.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained.", the spearman replied. "There exists a way to counter a Shockwave Pulsar that could be tested using Moon Stones... well it seems to exist, doesn't it?"

Quistis nodded.

"Well you just have to put an empty bottle in place of the dark one and look what will happen."

Quistis followed his order. Cid scratched his match again and lit the stove. The stones started to emit a thick mist that went through the pipe network and landed into the empty bottle. A few minutes later, the mist began to condense and take form in a jelly-like matter that was glowing more and more. The light was becoming dazzling.

A bit later, the Stones were almost completely disintegrated. Cid turned the stove off and bent over the container on the right side. The gelatinous matter was boiling a bit but stabilized. It was still shiny. When Quistis touched the bottle, it appeared that the matter was attracted by her hand.

"It might be good..." she said. "I'm going to try and assimilate it."

Quistis concentrated and poured the content of the bottle in her hand. The shining and jelly matter got slowly down. As it reached her fingers, it turned into a vapour that penetrated the fighter's body. In a moment, nothing remained of it. Quistis had completely absorbed it. 

Cid was standing there, admiring...

"So _that's_ Blue Magic? I hope it will work anyway. I'm counting on you, Miss Quistis."

"I'm rather counting on your success at this experiment. After all, _you_ had the idea to give it a try with Moon Stones, yes or no?", Quistis added.

"Oh yeah... you're right... Whatever, we just had to follow the instructions, right?", Cid answered confident.

~~

Cloud, Squall, Tifa and Rinoa were in a dreadful state. Krysta was now dead, Cloud could finally take his time to take care of his mates.

"Regen All!", he announced.

The four people got surrounded by a magical orange spiral. Their wounds were healing gradually. So they took a moment to chat.

"Excellent sword performance, Cloud." Squall said.

"Thanks a lot... I think I could say the same for you.", the swordsman answered.

"Tell me... In your world, are you part of an army corps or something?", Squall asked.

"I had actually been in the ShinRa army since I was 15. I had tried to reach the Elite SOLDIER level but I realized I was not made for it. But this hadn't prevented me to learn on my own the battle sword handling after I deserted."

Squall didn't want to talk about desertion, since the devotion he had towards Balamb Garden, but he went along with the discussion nevertheless.

"How did you desert?"

"It's because of Sephiroth.", Tifa precised. "He had come back to our place, Nibelheim, but during his stay, he had turned completely mad. He had just realized he was the result of genetic experiments."

"From this moment, he had become aware of his powers. One evening, he set the village on fire and has departed to the Mako reactor in the mountain district, near Nibelheim."

"Mako?", Rinoa asked.

"The Planet's energy. It's been continuously absorbed by the ShinRa company and harnessed to produce electricity, but those bureaucrats don't want to know they harm the planet by doing this. Moreover, they have created Sephiroth.", Tifa precised.

"To be short...", Cloud resumed. "The day when Sephiroth went to the mountains, Tifa and my pal from army days, Zack, an elite soldier, had tried to stop him, but they had failed. Tifa had been seriously wounded, but Zack hadn't got over. He gave me his sword and his equipment before he died. This is how I used this sword for the first time against Sephiroth and driving him to the Mako at the bottom of the power plant."

"How horrible!", Rinoa said. "And that is the reason why you're looking for him?"

"It's one reason. Actually, when Sephiroth had become aware of his powers, he had only one idea: destroy our world. We had seen him again after the Nibelheim catastrophe: he was even more powerful. He had summoned a Meteor to carry his plan on."

"The Meteor we saw near the fortress in that wasteland, isn't it?", Squall asked, a bit surprised.

Cloud answered in a nod.

"Strange... we have been around the world many times, we've neither seen any fortress nor meteor before... You might come from the past, if we had to believe in what Eden had told you", Squall continued. "But when?"

"We'd better go and check this secret library that has been mentioned by your big bird.", Tifa suggested. "We might find an answer."

"If only we know where it is...", Squall answered.

The three other people remained silent.

"And I should recall you that we've only beaten this far, as far as I know, two of the guardians of Ultimecia. We should better take care of the others too.", the Gunblader said.

"True...", Tifa approved. "Our materia isn't totally operative yet. I hope the other people are okay, too..."

The Regen spell was about to cease his effects upon the four fighters. They got up, freshly restored.

"So, what should we do now?", Cloud asked.

"We get down the chandelier and we check the door facing it. Hang on well!"

~~

Selphie had been re-enabled to use her Full Cure spell. In a moment, Barrett and Irvine were restored.

"Hey, this is excellent!", Barrett congratulated. "I didn't know you were able to do tricks like this."

"Er... thanks!", Selphie answered, more and more intimidated.

"At least, you're not like this pesky Yuffie, always expecting the right time to try and steal something from us.", the juggernaut resumed.

"Who?"

"A girl from our team. She stayed down there with those who couldn't come with us because she didn't really fancy a fight against Sephiroth. She doesn't know what she's currently losing..."

Selphie didn't say anything. She was watching Barrett with attention. As he was to Irvine, the giant was looking impressive to her in the beginning. His friendly thoughts towards her and Irvine made her more and more thoughtful.

"Okay, should we go on?", Irvine asked a bit later.

"I was about to suggest it.", Barrett answered.

So they went out of the Art Gallery by the door facing their entrance. They got into a room with dark walls, lighted by candelabrums as for the other rooms. Facing them was a big stained-glass window. A raising staircase was leading to a passage on the left wall, another was going underground. The tree people couldn't exactly distinguish what was down there, but they all wanted to know more.

"Should we go down?", they all asked at the same time before bursting into laughter.

So they did.

~~

"Watch out for the shock!", Squall shouted.

The four put their feet at the same time upon the chandelier which landed in the room floor with an ear-breaking noise. Tifa was almost ejected from it.

After it went back up, the four people headed to the big door of the room and opened it.

They found themselves outside again, on a paved alley. In front of them they could see a fountain, that was slowly flowing. It was near the entrance of a chapel, that had remarkable stained-glass window designs. Two secondary alleys, paved too, went from this entrance and bypassed it by both sides. They could also see the two towers dominating Ultimecia's citadel, linked together by the corridor with monster statues, approximately thirty or forty feet above the ground. The left tower was a steeple. The clock on it was stopped. Behind them, they could see, above a sort of sentry corridor, the balcony upon which they had just fought their opponent Krysta.

"Impressive...", Tifa commented. "A bit scary, but impressive."

Cloud nodded. He agreed with what she said, although something bothered him since he got out with the others. Something he couldn't describe but appeared as familiar to him. His thoughts were confused. He was breathing irregularly. Squall and Rinoa were intrigued and turned back to ask him what was wrong.

"Se... Sephiroth... He's up there... He's watching us...", Cloud answered in a toneless voice.

The couple and Tifa could see a dark silhouette moving in the outer corridor linking the twin towers. Cloud wanted to rush but was stopped dead by Squall.

"Cloud! Our magic isn't completely operative, moreover I'd rather prefer our team mates to come back before facing him."

The young blonde man was raging inside, but could calm down.

"By the way", Rinoa asked, "where are they?"

"We're here, Squall!". It was Quistis. She was with Zell and Cid. "How has it been up there?"

"It was hard, but we made it. And you?"

"The same...", Cid answered. "We've also made some kinda weird experiments with Miss Quistis and her Blue Magics."

"What kind of experiments?", Squall asked.

Quistis told them about their achievements in the cellar.

Squall thought for a moment, then started to say:

"We have to..."

"...expect the worst, I know.", Quistis continued before laughing up her sleeve.

The young man, disconcerted, didn't know what to say anymore.

"Moreover, we don't know what Sephiroth would be able to do this time.", Cloud added, as his mind was still haunted by the black-caped man. "But if I... if _we_ can't face him right now, we'd better return to the castle's main entrance and know what Barrett and your two other comrades are doing. Okay?"

"All right.", Squall accepted.

They were about to return to the chandelier room when Cid warned them:

"The fountain!"

This fountain, placed between the two buildings, had stopped flowing and was gradually getting empty. Cid came closer to it, followed by the others' look. The spearman drew on his cigarette, bent over the coping, inspected the bottom of the fountain and took something that he showed to the other people. "It's a key."

****

Author's note : the _Counterspace_, the G-Force-less refining alchemistry and the Blue Magic Spell Book are my creations but if you think I've stolen anything, just let me know. I hope to find in the future a bit more personal elements to improve this story. I also hope that my family won't keep going in-&-out of my room while I'm typing... :: checks in the corridor :: for now, it's quite quiet!

Special thanks go to Mandy and Brent from the Final Fantasy Forum for reviewing my work.

To you all, have an **HAPPY NEW YEAR **and my best wishful friendly feelings from me, 

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	7. Progress and Confidences

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : All of this is Squaresoft's property, but this won't prevent me from thanking all these Japanese people from making such outstanding FF games. :-)

-~-

****

CHAPTER 7

PROGRESS AND CONFIDENCES

-~-

"Tell me, Irvine, have you really got an inborn mania to touch everything?", Barrett asked.

The three companions had arrived in a small underground, round-shaped room, with stone walls, lighted by lanterns. As odd as it looked, a moat, filled with cloudy water, was going across the room, cutting it in two parts. The water was slowly flowing in it. On each side of the moat, there were two iron doors, almost diametrically opposed and both having a small barred window. A stone bridge was linking the two halves of the room, and near the bridge was a metal lever. Irvine was curious to know what this lever was for, and had pulled it to him. This resulted in the complete emptying of the moat. Not a single drop of water was in it. A bit later, Irvine noticed that the lever was operating the small lock in the moat, located near the bridge, between the two doors.

"How could _I _know?", Irvine answered.

"You really have to be careful, man. You never know what could happen to us.", Barrett continued.

"Hey, stop! You're not going to argue for this, right?", Selphie broke in.

The two men said nothing.

"Should we go on the left?", she then asked.

"As you wish, Selphie.", Irvine answered.

"Okay.", Barrett nodded.

They opened the left door and entered the next room. But at the moment when the three got in it, the door shut and locked itself! The group was stuck in a cell, with stone walls too. According to the gloomy appearance of the room, it could be nothing but a dungeon.. A small bunch of straw was laying around the ground, with a skeleton. The door they opened to come into the room wouldn't open anymore, the other door Barrett had noticed on his right after he came in was locked from the other side and wouldn't open too, despite the juggernaut's efforts.

"And now, what?", said Barrett with a raging voice.

Selphie was blushing. She was afraid of having made a mistake by leading them both and herself into the dungeon. Nevertheless she had noticed in the back of the room a statue of a man, laying on the ground and raising a hand carrying...

"A key!", she suddenly said, excited. "We might be saved!"

She rushed on the key but as she was about to take it, doubt came into her mind, as it had come while she was in the room with the bell. What if it was it a trap? "After all", she finally thought, "if a servant of Ultimecia turned up here, we would indeed have to eliminate him before we could continue. We _must _do it, right?"

"Erm... watch out, you never know...", she announced as she put her hand over the key.

Barrett and Irvine could hardly believe in what their team mate said but they drew their weapons. Selphie took the key. At the very moment, a purplish smoke sprang from the centre of the room and took a gigantic form. The form solidified, thickened and turned into a humanoid creature, three times bigger than Barrett, who was nevertheless impressed by the monster's stature. It was so big that his head almost touched the ceiling of the cell. Moreover it had an enormous sword and hugely muscled limbs, that made it exactly looking like the Iron Giants that Squall and his team had formerly encountered in Esthar's plains after Lunar Cry. His armour, however, was crimson instead of the usual navy blue.

"Damn..." Barrett thought.

Selphie had already drawn her Nunchaku out. The creature talked to the three friends with these words:

"I am Red Giant, and you will face my wrath for seeking your sealed power."

~~

Meanwhile, the seven other fighters were back in the entrance hall. Squall took the opportunity to show Quistis the artefact he found on the balcony.

"Yes, you are correct. It's indeed a Power Generator.", Quistis confirmed.

"Let me see!", Cid asked.

Squall handed the glowing stone to him.

"Weird.", the spearman remarked. "This thing shines like a materia but it ain't one..."

"Whatever...", Squall answered. "We're looking for this kind of item to do other things that your materias can't do, in fact."

The Gunblader thought for a while and asked:

"Cid... You seem to know about mechanics, physics, chemistry and so on... could you have a look at this?"

He took out of his leather jacket a magazine. It was a _Weapons Monthly_. He opened it and show a page to Cid who drew on his cigarette and read with attention.

"Mmmm... If I've understood it well, these are instructions to forge your kinda gun-sword, your Gunblade as you say, right?"

Squall nodded.

"Adamantine, Dragon Fang, Pulse Ammo?". Cid hesitated and said: "I perfectly understand the set up instructions but I hope you have the right items for it because..."

"Don't worry, we have some...", Rinoa said.

"We _will _have some.", Squall precised. "These Pulse Bullets are made by Irvine, thanks to this..." (he showed the stone) "and our Guardian Forces' intervention."

"...thus making a refining, right?", Cid added.

"Exactly.", Squall answered. "But I don't know where Irvine is to be found right now. I just know that he's gone by the right side of the entrance hall."

"So you intend to find him back... I'm coming with you, Squall. I'm also wondering where Barrett is to be found. I hope he hasn't been too violent with your companions, he's the kind of man to get angry for nothing."

Tifa and Cid were a bit surprised, but Cloud was right. Squall shared his point of view too. He knew it well that, unlike himself who was naturally cold and calm, "Mr Machine Gun", as Irvine named him, could hardly control himself.

"I suppose it's time to part again.", Zell said.

They had all started to go up the stairs leading to the balustrade.

"We're taking the upper left door.", Quistis declared. "Good luck."

Upon these words, Quistis, Zell and Cid went there, while the other two couples, determined to find their three other mates, went out by the right door. However, Cloud seem to be concerned about something.

"What's wrong, Cloud?", Tifa asked.

"That bird that talked to us in the entrance hall.", Cloud answered.

"The bird?", Rinoa asked. "Eden?", Squall precised.

"Yes, erm... your Guardian Force, this creature that went out of your body.", Cloud resumed, talking to Squall.

"So?", Tifa continued.

Cloud didn't know how to explain it, but he finally said:

"That voice recalls me of someone... _her_ voice..."

~~

The Red Giant was even worse than Trauma. Barrett and Irvine had to sustain so many times the blows coming from his huge sabre. Selphie was much thinner than her other two team mates, no matter how hard she struck the Giant with her Nunchaku, she was down to the floor two blows later. Irvine was desperately attempting to protect her and was retaliating with a burst of AP Bullets, Barrett was shooting without a break but they were hopeless. The scarlet juggernaut was implacable.

"Wait a moment, people.", Selphie said suddenly. The girl was shuddering.

"I think this time is the good time.", she resumed.

She got back up and made many gestures with her weapon.

"What's she doing?", Barrett asked.

"Stay cool...", Irvine said, as he seemed to know what Selphie was preparing.

She froze, holding the side-pieces of her Nunchaku raised in the air. A white bolt surrounded the team. Then, coming from nowhere, a magic wall crashed down between them and their red enemy, then vanished.

"Woohoo, it works!", Selphie shouted, delighted.

Her Full Cure and Wall spells were indeed operative; Selphie had succeeded, although she never did it before, in casting them both at the same time.

Barrett, regenerated, shouted in a triumphant voice: "It's my turn now!" and shot so fast that the monster almost rocked. His machine gun nearly got jammed. But this wasn't enough to dispose of Ultimecia's minion.

The battle was far from being won. The three friends, protected by the Wall, could fight more easily, but the monster didn't seem to be weakened. The creature didn't stop his taunts as the team's attacks were inefficient. Five minutes later, they were all three knocked to the ground, exhausted... Irvine had no more special bullets left. Selphie couldn't move at all. Barrett was staring at the creature with a hatred-filled look. "You won't make me change my mind.", he shouted. "I will never surrender."

"Really?", Red Giant replied. He had raised his sword in the air, ready to assail its three opponents when a voice from nowhere said:

"Hey you big gizmo! Catch this!"

Two black-gloved hands came from the small slit of the door and unleashed a Demi spell. Two black balls sprang from the door and struck the Red Giant head on. The monster exploded, imploded and yelled:

"AAAAAAARRRRGH! No more Demis please!"

"Hey, you don't seem to appreciate?", another voice replied. "Wait, we're going to cast it over..."

"Squall? Cloud? Is that you?", Barrett asked, surprised by this miraculous turning-up of the two swordsmen.

As an answer, he saw a huge black ball shooting from their hands and wrap the big red creature. This gravity shock was such that the floor and ceiling of the room waved and were almost to meet each other. The Red Giant was dilating, contracting, yelling, agonizing. No matter how resistant this monster was, he couldn't stand his own weight. The gravity inside the Demi was forcing him to be crushed by eight other selves. That was too much for him, way too much...

When the prison went back to its original size, the Red Giant rocked, fell to the ground with a dreadful noise, dismantled and went into dust. 

Barrett was astonished.

"So that was his weak point?", he said.

"Seems it was.", Cloud answered from the other side of the door. "But... how did you come to lock yourselves in it? The door's blocked!"

"It actually has shut and locked itself.", Irvine precised.

"To my opinion, we couldn't get out of this place without taking the key and beating this big red thing.", Selphie added. "Luckily you've come here right on time, guys. Thanks!"

"You're welcome", Cloud answered.

Squall remained silent but didn't think less than Cloud. He didn't know the reason why but, even though it was not in his habit, it was natural for him to help other people. 

"Squall? Something's wrong?", Rinoa asked, worried.

Squall took some time to answer calmly:

"I'll talk to you later about it."

"Strange", Rinoa thought. "He don't usually stand talking about his personal matters. Is it another trick to avoid contact?"

Selphie had unlocked the door with the key she found in the cell, then she opened it with another "Woohoo!". Barrett and Irvine got out of it, limping.

"Phew... I hope we won't have to fight for while", Irvine sighed. "Moreover I have no more special ammunition."

"Barrett? Are you wounded?", Tifa asked.

"Hmpf... could have been better if that monster had not stunned us with his damn big sword.", the giant answered. "Couldn't you give us a hand?"

"Right now.", Cloud accepted.

The swordsman cast a Regen All upon the three team mates who progressively got healed from their serious wounds. During this time, Squall came to Irvine and showed him the Power Generator. Irvine was astonished.

"The thing that makes Pulse Ammo by refining? Man, that's been a long time I was expecting to see an artefact like this!"

"Me too", Squall added.

"Yeah, it's true. The ultimate Gunblade, isn't it? Wait, I'm going to check if our Guardian Forces are operative. I've tried to summon them many times to craft some ammo, but I failed."

Irvine took the green crystal in his hand, twenty empty pellets in the other and concentrated. The crystal, then the pellets glowed, floated then came into contact, letting out a bright glimmer. Ten seconds later, the crystal had vanished, and the pellets were filled with its energy. 

"Hey, that didn't work a while ago!", the sniper exclaimed. "After all... This is for me..."

He put eight bullets in one of his pockets.

"...and this is for you.", and gave the remainder to Squall.

Barrett was definitely interested by Irvine's Guardian Forces' abilities.

"Outstanding!", he said. "Merely outstanding! Irvine, if you ever have the time before we meet Sephiroth and your Sorceress, don't forget to do the same with my ammo if you can."

"Very well, I'll think about it.", Irvine answered. The gunner had another idea in mind... He returned to the cell, followed by Cloud and Squall, and after a quick refining, found himself with his favourite ammunition, the AP Bullets. He reloaded his shotgun.

"Stand back, it's gonna rock!", he told them and pointed his gun to the left door, still blocked.

He shot. Irvine had some problems to stand the recoil provoked by his gun shot. The door was smashed down by a remarkable explosion. Nothing was left of it. Irvine and the two swordsmen rushed into the passage. It was a stone wall corridor, with a small slope but no lighting. Moreover, after each step they took, the ground seemed to become muddier and muddier. Nevertheless, this passageway was quite short. The three young men quickly got out of it and found themselves in a kind of moat outside the castle. They were located at the foot of the left tower, with its stopped clock and its monster statues.

"I wonder what we're doing here, Irvine.", Cloud asked.

Irvine, without saying anything, proceeded through the moat and saw a key, set on a piece of rock. He took it and gave it to Cloud.

"Does it answer your question?", he said to him, smiling.

"It does, in some way..."

~~

Tifa and Rinoa have taken themselves away from the group for a while. They were sitting on a stair, in the room next to the art gallery. 

"Cloud and Squall seem to get on well. Quite amazing.", Tifa began.

"It's odd but I think exactly the same. According to his friends, Squall isn't the kind of person to sacrifice himself to help anybody... until I met.", Rinoa continued.

"So you think it comes from you?"

"Could be... I know he's worried about me."

"Cloud is the same. It's like this since his childhood. I remember when we were younger... He was 14, I was 12. We had arranged to meet ourselves in the main square, near the well. He had been waiting until I came, but he was despaired. It was normal since everyone there was making fun of him. Poor him... he was attempting to do everything to surpass himself."

"Then?"

"Then I turned up. A bit late but I turned up. He confided to me about his project: being an elite soldier in the ShinRa armed forces, like Sephiroth... It's at that time that he swore to come and help me every time I needed. In the beginning, I could hardly believe him, but when he came back, two years later, he kept his promise. He keeps it in a remarkable way, I really like him for this but I don't know how to say this to him."

"Two years later, that means when your village was burnt down?"

"Yes... indeed..."

Tifa sighed.

"Now we have nowhere to go but as long as Cloud is here I'll always feel happy. Of course there is Barrett, Cid and the others... I also thank them for what they did but Cloud..."

"I understand you, Tifa.", Rinoa said with a faraway look. "I understand... because Squall has promised me almost the same thing."

"Really?", Tifa asked.

"He did this because of a nightmare I had. I wanted to meet Squall but he was nowhere to be found. I've been around the entire world but in vain. I told him about this nightmare and this has astonished me, but he understood my state of mind. Even more, he promised me to wait for me _here _... well, _there..._ his former orphanage. There's a wonderful flower field _there, _the very place where he made his promise to me."

Rinoa was thinking again about the flower field and what Squall has told her.

"Wait there, you mean he's an orphan?", Tifa asked.

"He is, indeed... me too. He never knew about his parents, and my mother died when I was 5. All the other people are orphans who spent their childhood _there_. Besides we are near the peninsula where the orphanage is located."

"Coincidence, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you may say so!", Rinoa answered, laughing.

Tifa thought for a while and continued:

"Cloud and I have lost our families during the fire of Nibelheim, but most striking of all is when we came back, the village was as if nothing happened! Even its inhabitants seemed not to know about the catastrophe. The ShinRa... Sephiroth... it's all their fault!"

"That's why you have no more _home _now... I don't really have a _home _too... I don't want to return and live by my father's after all that happened since I met Squall, around fifteen days ago, but I'm not feeling easy in his academy, Balamb Garden... Maybe one day I'll get used to it. Maybe you two will also be able to find your promised land."

The words "Promised Land" echoed in Tifa's ears. She was there, dumbfounded, frozen. These two words were very familiar to her, or even too much familiar...

"Tifa? Have I said something stupid?", Rinoa asked, surprised.

"No, no, you've reminded me of somebody when you've said these words...", Tifa replied.

****

Author's note : Yeah, don't worry, we're got plenty left to see, but I got so much to do that my work advances very slowly.

Mega greetings go to:

Lady Aliena, The Umbra, Brenton Braswell from the Final Fantasy Forum, especially B. Braswell for his nice detailed rewiews.

Rosa Heartilly and Sadia Fiore from the CBB. How's it going down there for you fellow Booyakans?

Saian Girl, Race Ulfson, Valerian, Raven: enjoyed the interaction between the characters? Wow... I'd never thought you could appreciate that much. I know there are many crossovers made mostly to make fun of characters or bash them... since I don't master that kind of humor I wanted to make a serious crossover fic. I'm glad you enjoy it for this reason though, I'll try to keep it good till the end. Thanks again.

For now, have friendly feelings from

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	8. Full Circle

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : Yeah yeah... I know... I don't own any of this, Squaresoft does, and deserves it well! So... shall we proceed now?

-~-

****

CHAPTER 8

FULL CIRCLE

-~-

"Tifa? Rinoa? Where are you?", Squall called from the room with the lock.

The two girls looked at each other for a while.

"Well then, I think we'd better return there...", Rinoa said.

"That's nothing. Thanks for the chat!", Tifa replied.

"You're welcome..."

They went back downstairs. Squall and Cloud were on the right side of the moat, near the door. Barrett, Selphie and Irvine were about to go back upstairs.

"Tell me, Squall...", the machine gunner asked. "Do you have an idea about what's on top of the stairs, behind us?"

Squall thought. This staircase, this passageway... he noticed them both too, just before he went on the rescue of his friends, trapped in the cell. He remembered about the inner courtyard.

"I think you'll get through a sentry-box, leading you to the left wing of the castle. Your friend Cid must be around there at the time, with two of our team members.", Squall answered.

"All right. When you're through, find us back at the entrance.", Barrett continued.

He went away, followed closely by Irvine and Selphie.

Cloud tried to open the door, unsuccessfully. However, he noticed its keyhole.

"Hey... with that key Irvine has found out."

He inserted the key and turned it into the hole. Le lock of the door opened with a metallic noise. After that, the door opened by itself, allowing the four friends to discover what was behind.

It was a real arsenal. The room, middle-sized, was taller than the cell, with stone walls too, but was containing an incredible number of weapons and suits of armour. On the walls, halberds were vertically stored. Short swords and shields were put here and there... This stock was hardly interesting to our companions who were attracted by something else...

At the centre of the room, on the ground, was a monster head, a sort of skull, with greyish stripes, and two hollow and black eye-sockets in which two yellow eyes were shining. This head was alive. On each side of it, two hands, grey-striped too, had popped up from the ground and looked as if they were searching for some victim to grab. Cloud and Tifa had never seen such an abomination, but Squall knew perfectly what it was. 

"Vysage, Righty and Lefty...", he explained them. "We should normally have no problem, since we already met some of them before. It must not be difficult to destroy."

"Don't delude yourselves too much...", Vysage announced in an eerie voice.

"Whatever...", Squall retorted, running to the head to slash it with his Gunblade.

Rinoa took back her Blaster Edge and cast it to the left hand. Tifa was battling with Righty, who had slapped her. As for Cloud, the fighter wasn't fighting anyone for the moment, but summoned a Wall-All on his team members. Four prismatic and multicoloured walls appeared between the fighters, then vanished. They were feeling more secure after this, but Lefty made them think the contrary and sent a Bio on Cloud. The swordsman collapsed but was quickly saved by an Esuna from Tifa, who got immediately after grabbed by Righty. Rinoa intended to use a spell to set Tifa free from the right hand's grasp but lost her momentum as Lefty summoned Reflect upon its partner. Squall and Cloud were not to stand without doing anything and rushed to the right hand and hit it twice in the wrist. The blow forced it to release Tifa who took opportunity to strike Vysage, who remained impassive since the battle began. Lefty, who seemed to have many cards left in its hand (in a manner of speaking that is), summoned a Quake on the group. The heroes saw the ground crackling and waving at a breathtaking speed. Big pillars emerged from the ground and made the team jump and fall, again and again... A few seconds later, it went back to normal but the fighters were heavily wounded by the quakes.

Rinoa was the first person to get back up.

"Too much is too much!", she said, staring at the hand. "SILENCE!"

A magic mist formed around Lefty and condensed. The hand wanted to take action but no matter how hard it waved, nothing happened. It couldn't summon spells no more.

"Well played, Rinoa.", Squall said, relieved. "Now we're taking it easier."

Him and Cloud took it upon themselves to give the final blow to each hand. The two organs nimbly sunk into the ground. Now there was the head left... Vysage was watching them four, with its machiavellian look.

"You haven't seen it all yet.", it said.

Squall didn't took time to say his usual "Whatever..." and struck his enemy the best he could. Cloud wanted to do the same but was stopped by a series of flashing lights that hit straight into... "AAAARGH!", the swordsman shouted. "My eyes! I can't see no more!"

He dropped his sword, perturbed by the Blind spell Vysage had just cast upon him. Tifa, shocked to see her companion in such a deprived state, cast Esuna to make him recover his lost eyesight. Rinoa made the next stroke with a Holy. Vysage couldn't stand this holy glow and sunk underground. After this, Squall immediately cast a series of Cura upon the team members and Cloud took his sword back. 

"Finally, it's over.", he said.

"Not yet." Squall said. "These monsters usually explode when we finish them up."

Vysage's eerie voice could then be heard.

"Really surprising from you! _I_ should be the one to surprise you by coming back to battle when you were not expecting me. I'm quite... disappointed in a way, but I haven't lost it all yet!"

The ground was shaking. Vysage, then Lefty, then Righty emerged from it. Both hands stuck to the ground, made it collapse around the creature that went taller and taller. At that time, the four team mates saw its torso and its arms getting out of the ground. The arms were of the same greyish colour, the body of the creature was covered with a dark blue vest. The creature measured at least sixteen feet. The fighters were impressed, for sure, but not surprised. 

"Here's someone who's never out of means.", Tifa commented.

"Yeah, but _unity_ makes strength, not size.", Cloud added.

Squall and Rinoa said nothing, but seemed to agree.

The huge creature talked to them with the same eerie voice:

"My name is Gargantua and even if you have won the first round, nothing proves you're about to win this time."

"Why are they contenting themselves in believing they'll succeed in fooling us with words?", Squall thought, as he gripped tightly the grip of his Gunblade.

~~

As Quistis, Cid and Zell were going through the left part of the castle, walking through a long stone-walled corridor, Selphie, Irvine and Barrett were following the way along the sentry-box. The gunner noticed the entrance of the chapel, the two towers, the stopped clock.

"Man", he said, "he's really right, your boxer, what's his name already... Zell? 'Gotta be nuts to live in this!"

"Hmmm, yes, plus, this place freaks me out a bit...", Selphie added, more and more frightened.

Irvine turned back and winked at her, saying: "Don't worry, I'm here." The girl was comforted a bit, but was still afraid.

The group arrived at the end of the sentry-box into a really odd room, lighted as the others were by candelabrums. They were standing in a balustrade alley, carpeted with red. Down the balustrade, the ground had stone tiles. There was an exit, behind another balustrade, facing them, that seemed inaccessible. They saw then on their right side, two sort-of elevators. The first was on their balustrade, right at their level. The other one was linked to the other balustrade, and could be accessed by the lower level.

"Looks like these two elevators are linked to each other...", Selphie observed. "To get to the other balustrade, there's no other way than taking the ground-based one."

"But how could we make it go up?", Irvine wondered.

"No idea.", Barrett answered. "But... what the..."

The giant, then Selphie and Irvine were surprised to see, turning up beneath them, Quistis, Zell and Cid.

"Hey, down there! How's it going?", Irvine said to them.

"Irvine?", Quistis answered. The SeeD instructor raised her head and noticed them all three.

"Glad to see you again, guys.", Zell answered them. "How was it over there?"

"We've already beaten two minions", Barrett proudly announced, "even if Squall and Cloud helped us a bit against the second one."

"Yes, and not just a bit.", Selphie precised, as she tried to recover as well as can be expected from the hard blows the Red Giant had inflicted her.

"The four other people are still in the dungeon, but they're about to come back to the entrance hall.", Barrett added. "By the way, have you seen this weird lift?"

The six people turned to the double elevator. Barrett put his foot on the upper one, and noticing that it was going down, came rapidly back upon the balustrade alley.

"Eh, this is crazy! Barrett, you've seen it?", Cid asked. "The lower one has raised at the same time!".

Quistis didn't need more than ten seconds thinking to find the suitable course of action

"Well, if I have understood it right, we must act together to allow us three to see what's hidden up there. Cid, Zell, you follow me into the lift shaft, on the bottom left."

The three took place in the shaft.

"Good. Selphie, Irvine and Barrett.", she said to them. "Would you please get into the lift facing you to make us go up? Oh, by the way, don't get out of it before we're back."

"Before we're back, and what else?", Barrett growled.

However, he made up his mind and joined Selphie and Irvine in their lift. The two groups started to move slowly, in opposite directions, Quistis' team upwards, Irvine's team downwards, while the elevator squeaked. 

Once arrived at destination, Quistis, Zell and Cid headed to the opposite exit. They discovered a small room, strongly contrasting with the gigantic chandelier hall. A small chandelier, equipped with small candles, was lighting the room. The three people could see sets of shelves, along with some other furniture. Everything was very tidy. Nevertheless, they found nothing interesting, nothing but ...

"Another key!", Zell noticed. He came close to a small table, near one of the sets of shelves, and took the key that was put on it.

"Yeah... At least, we haven't come here for nothing.", Cid said, lighting another cigarette.

The three left this room, now useless, behind them and took their place back into their elevator.

"You may leave.", Quistis announced.

The three other people, who stayed at the lower level, got out of their shaft. The machinery started up again, still squeaking. In a few seconds, the six were at the lower level of the room.

"Well... you've been fast!", Barrett said in an astonished voice. "There was nothing in this room?"

Zell showed the key.

"It might open the door we've seen on our way, in that corridor.", he told them, pointing at the corridor. The six people went into it.

"All right Zell, but if there's a monster in this room, I'd like not to fight it, you see... we've already put two minions to death and the second one was a bit too much... Ouch, my back!"

"In that case, wait for us at the entrance.", Quistis suggested. "Walk to the end of this corridor and you'll be there. We'll take care of Ultimecia's servant if there's one."

They were standing near a heavy iron door, located in the middle of the corridor. Quistis' team stopped there, while Irvine, Selphie and Barrett kept on walking.

"I hope nothing bad would happen to them...", Selphie declared, anxious.

"No worries, Selphie!", Barrett answered with a half-reassuring voice. "As long as Cid is with them, they're out of danger. Gotta tell you: that guy may be a little bit strange but he can do a lot of things among fighting. This Cid is a good guy, you know. Your friends are safe with him, believe me."

They arrived at the end of the corridor, in the entrance hall

"So, we've made all this way round ?", Selphie noticed.

"Looks like we did.", Irvine said. "A full circle."

~~

The door that was locked by the key recently found in the tidy room was quickly opened by Zell. He was exceedingly rejoiced to find in it...

"One of Ultimecia's minions, for sure! Cool, I knew we had to come here!"

Zell squeezed his knuckles, excited by the idea to fight again. Quistis and Cid were not looking reassured though. The room had a medium size, around seventy square feet, and was dimly lightened by four torches, placed on the wall opposed to the door. Right in the middle of the room, a quadruped creature was standing. It had a crimson red skin, a long tail, a white mane and two long horns that were attached to his forehead. Cid seemed to know this kind of creatures.

"We have already seen some of that kind before battling against Sephiroth.", he commented to Quistis with a low voice. "It's a Behemoth. Very hard to kill these filthy creatures!"

"So they are in your world? In ours too...", Quistis answered.

"I have perfectly heard you.", the monster announced. "Indeed I am a Behemoth but Ultimecia has took a particular care of me to allow me to serve her as she wishes. By the way, it might be useless to know it since you're about to die by now, but I'm going to say it anyway: my name is Catoblepas."

"Let's hope that he won't be as problematic as Tri Point!", Quistis continued, in a low voice. She couldn't forget the electric discharges coming from the deceased dragon-like creature.

Cid used his Materia.

"Hard luck, Quistis...", he thought. "It appears that this monster loves electric attacks, too. But don't worry, I'm not about to let you down, neither Zell, nor you..."

He was staring at the beast, right into its eyes, gripping his spear pointing upwards with both hands.

~~

Gargantua was not a tough opponent, but his poison, sleep and confuse attacks were starting to annoy our four heroes seriously. Rinoa tried to Silence him... unsuccessfully. Tifa was busy casting Esuna upon the group. Cloud and Squall were managing to fight quite well, but were taking most of the physical and mental blows coming from the monster.

"We got to do something, Squall... EH! YOU JUST STRUCK ME!"

Indeed, Gargantua had just made Squall confused. The Gunblader, believing he was attacking the monster, had thus hit Cloud who made him quickly recover his senses with a Remedy. The young SeeD could hardly stand.

"Let us take care of it.", Rinoa suggested.

The girl started to attack with her Blaster Edge, while Tifa started a 4-hit combo. Gargantua sent them packing to the back of the room with the back of his hand.

"Rinoa!", Squall shouted.

The girl had no problem to get back up though.

"Don't worry, Squall, I'm all right.". She looked at the monster with an avenging stare. "Very well", she thought, "but don't think I can't do more than this!". Rinoa pointed her hand, shaking with rage, towards her enemy.

"Rinoa? What's happening?", Tifa asked.

She answered in a high pitched voice: "Ultima!". A bright flash sprang from her hand and sledge-hammered the creature in his body to explode. For a while, the room was bathing in emerald green. Gargantua couldn't stand it. Tifa rushed towards the monster, avoided his hands who were trying to block her and gave a violent kick on his grey-striped face. To conclude the fight, she cast a Thundaga, at the same time Rinoa sent a Firaga.

No matter how loud Gargantua could growl, shout, howl, it was done for him. The two girls were no longer paying attention to him when their opponent went into dust, and were already by Cloud and Squall's side.

"Squall? are you okay?", Rinoa asked.

Squall put some time before getting back up and answering:

"Why did you risk it? You could have been killed!"

"Well...", she said. She had put her hands behind her back and was swinging her leg from the left to the right, hesitantly. She couldn't confess that she was worrying about him, as well as he was worrying about her. Squall understood that she could hardly express herself and hugged her. 

"Don't fret because of it, that's not important finally. If you were really endangered, I could have... Whatever, most important is that we're still alive."

~~

In the entrance hall, Selphie and Irvine were doing Triple Triad duels, while Barrett, fascinated by the card game, observed them both.

"I won again! Woohoo!", Selphie announced.

"Really...", Irvine said, frustrated. "It makes three times in a row I'm losing a card game today."

As Selphie was taking a Mesmerize card from Irvine's hand; Barrett quickly turned his head towards the big entrance gates.

"What's wrong, Barrett?"

"I heard something behind this door.", the juggernaut answered them. "Have you heard something too?"

The three turned to the big gates. They could hear a sort of gentle scratch behind it.

"What could it be?", Selphie asked.

"Not one of Ultimecia's servants, sure not.", Irvine replied, in a self-trusting voice. "It can't be one, to my opinion..."

He pulled the door wide open. Angelo turned up and immediately rushed into the room.

"A DOG?", Barrett shouted, astonished. "How on earth did he come here?"

"It's Rinoa's.", Selphie explained. "She has trained him to use him during battles sometimes. Don't worry, he's very affectionate."

Angelo had already drawn himself up on his back paws and was leaning against Irvine, trying to get caresses and shaking his tail vigorously.

"So this girl in blue breeds this dog? How could she leave him behind until now?"

"I dunno...", Irvine replied, as he tried to calm Angelo down the best way he could. "As time compression started... yes, Angelo, I know you like us!... Angelo, that's his name, disappeared. Even Rinoa didn't know where to find him."

"A stroke of luck, then...", Barrett said. "But, I'd like to see how Rinoa could take advantage with this animal during battles."

~~

Cid was rapidly drawing on his cigarette, looking at Catoblepas straight into his eyes. The beast tried to bring him down but Cid, very nimble, leaped in the air, dodged the monster's assault, fell back and planted his spear into his body. Zell annoyed him a bit more and kicked him in this left eye before getting swept by the monster's tail. Quistis didn't know which magic to use, but she tried her luck and cast Water. Catoblepas couldn't stand water and, mad with rage, prepared a Thundaga and cast it upon Quistis.

"NO!", Cid shouted. He jumped between the creature and Quistis and took the electric discharge head on.

Quistis expected anything but this.

"What... why?", she asked, surprised by the spearman's reaction.

"We'll see that later.", he replied briefly. "For now, we have a sizeable opponent in front of us."

Zell had just been brought down to the ground again by Catoblepas' tail.

"Okay, guy...", he said, exasperated. "Wanna play this way? We gonna play this way."

He struck the ground with his fists and summoned a Quake. The whole room started to shake. The creature bounced like a ball on the floor and ceiling, while the three people watched him, still on guard. Before he could ever recover, he got sprayed again by Quistis, and Cid pierced him with his spear.

As all the former servants of Ultimecia, Catoblepas went to dust and in the hereafter.

As she saw Cid in a dreadful state because of the electric shock, and Zell wounded by the tail of the now-dead monster, Quistis healed them with White Wind. Then she came across Cid and asked him: 

"By the way, it was nice from you to take this Thunder spell for me, but you could have been killed!"

"I know, I know...", Cid answered, after he took back his cigarette. "But I've got my reasons, Miss Quistis. First, since our missions are common missions, we all have to do the necessary so that none of us ten dies. Secondly,..."

"Secondly what?"

"You remind me of my companion..."

"You're joking...", Quistis said.

"No I'm not!", Cid continued. "She has almost the same face expression as you have... although she's not blonde like you, but she has dark hair instead. You know... I've done everything to allow her to stay by my side, I even cancelled the launch of my rocket to prevent her death."

"How?", Quistis asked, interested to know more.

"This space program... It was a damn awesome project at the time... I had prepared myself until D-Day... but when the launching day came, a few minutes before launch time, I knew that Shera - her name - was still at the oxygen reactors level in the rocket, on the pretext that one of them was malfunctioning. It was impossible to make her leave this place. At the last second, I pushed the emergency stop button. It was a catastrophe. ShinRa Inc. has dropped this project since this incident... but at least, Shera's still alive..."

He hesitated.

"I wasted the entire space program just to save a life. Incredible..."

Quistis came closer to the spearman.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll succeed in making this space program back up and running.", she said, reassuring.

"No need to, now. I had made a space trip after this. This stupid ShinRa head had trapped us in this piece of nuts and bolts, Cloud, Tifa, Shera and myself, by the time we were about to extract a mega-Materia from it. 'They' wanted to use my rocket to destroy the Meteor with this Materia on board."

"Looks odd... You prevented them from doing it, right?", Zell asked.

"For sure: you really think you could burst a meteor with such a small rocket? 'They' succeeded in launching it anyway, but at the time it was about to crash into the Meteor, we made our way out of it in an emergency pod, with the mega-Materia.". Cid took a dreamer look. "I finally went into space..."

"Yeah, now we'd better get back on Earth and meet our pals at the entrance.", Zell said, with a taunting voice.

"Thanks for helping, Cid." Quistis finished in a smile. "Come on now..."

The three people went out of the room and made their way back to the entrance hall of the Castle. Everybody was here. Squall, Cloud, Tifa and Barrett were discussing about their fights, Rinoa was caressing Angelo, as the dog was running around her, glad to have found his mistress again, Selphie and Irvine ran and greeted them.

"You were the only people left. Woohoo, we're all here now!", Selphie said, delighted.

"So? how's it been?" Irvine asked them.

"Friggin' hell hard one...", Zell answered.

"That monster was indeed a tough one, but we managed to burst him however.", Cid said.

Squall didn't know why, but he felt comforted to see them all, especially as Rinoa was still alive. How could he explain? Was it since the girl's long coma that he started to think that way, that he was paying more and more attention to his friends? Why was he now more determined to protect them... and to protect _her_, whatever the price to pay could be?

The young SeeD Gunblader tried to forget about these questions, and gathered the other fighters for a debriefing.

****

Author's note : Sorry if I got too close to the game but I had to anyway... I also know you're expecting to see more of it and you're right... I can tell you right now: next chapter will deal with NEW enemies... I promise!

'Konnichi wa' to: Sadia Fiore from CBB, Rejeanna Maleski from FFF, Gemini83 (I'm still waiting for more. Go on, you have talent!), Yuffie143, Raven and Valerian for having read and dropped very cheerful comments about my work.

Now may everybody receive friendly feelings from me,

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	9. Zell's Zeal

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : The Giga Bug Queen is my addition to the original game, the remainder is all for Squaresoft... well I don't think I just owe them credit for it, they also deserve it, right?

-~-

****

CHAPTER 9

ZELL'S ZEAL

-~-

"Okay. Everybody's here.", Squall said, looking satisfied.

Cloud was by his side, and his sword was hung in his back.

"Barrett, Selphie, Irvine... you've made your way around the castle, haven't you?"

"We have done so, Squall.", Irvine answered. "In the Art Gallery, we've destroyed one of the minions, then we got down into the dungeons where you helped us against the big red thing."

"That makes two out... Quistis?"

"As you know it, we've had to neutralize another servant of Ultimecia in the cellar. We've killed another one in a room located in the left wing of the castle.", the SeeD instructor answered.

"A kinda distant relative of Behemoth.", Cid precised.

"With the one we met on the balcony, and the monster in the entrance hall, plus the one who was living in the armoury, this makes seven, so five still alive... and then Ultimecia...", Cloud commented.

He then had a sudden shiver.

"... and Sephiroth.", he finished, in a toneless voice.

"Yeah, I forgot... Sephiroth is here indeed.", Tifa said.

"Indeed? You're sure?", Barrett said, excited.

"Sure. We all saw him, Cid, Cloud, the others and myself, in the inner courtyard of this castle. He was there between the two towers, and at that moment Cloud felt strange once more."

Squall was looking at his "brother-in-arms" with attention.

"I don't want to be rude against you Cloud...", he thought. "but if you keep on reacting like this every time you get close to him, we won't get very far."

"What's up, Squall? You wonder why Sephiroth drives me crazy, don't you?"

Cloud was staring at Squall with a reproving look. Squall answered:

"This isn't the problem... I really think we have to cope with it and kill your archenemy before he plans on doing something. Who knows... Moreover we haven't seen Ultimecia yet but we already know what she is capable of. With your Sephiroth, I guess it could be even worse."

He paused for a while, then he resumed:

"Nevertheless, since we have made a noticeable progress this far, I suggest we stop here for a while. We will resume the exploration of the Citadel by the inner courtyard later. We will need more strength in order to continue."

"Okay.", Cid said before relighting his cigarette.

"No prob.", Barrett said.

The other SeeD members approved. Selphie and Irvine went out to get some fresh air. Squall went to meet Cid and provide him with some items and the Weapons Monthly.

"All right... well then, just leave your Gunblade to me, I'm gonna sort it right.", he declared.

"Be careful with it, Mr. Cid.", Squall warned.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it.", the spearman replied in a smile. "As I said downstairs, we have to follow the instructions, right, Miss Quistis?", then he winked to the instructor.

Quistis couldn't help sniggering up her sleeves as she heard Cid and she saw Squall as he didn't know what to say once more. However, Squall entrusted his Gunblade to Cid who, after taking it, went to isolate himself in the tapestry corridor.

"Sorry", he precised, "but I don't like being disturbed in my work. See ya later."

~~

Outside the Citadel, Irvine and Selphie were standing near the big gate.

"I'm eager to see this thing over... how much I like to return home, at Balamb Garden.", Selphie said, as she watched the infinitely dark sky and sea.

"Me too, Selphie.", Irvine answered before coming closer to the girl.

The sharpshooter remembered the moments he spent with Selphie, particularly when she started the Ragnarok and made it fly. He wanted to see her happy again as before, with all of her usual "Woo-hoo!".

What could he say to her? This was obvious... The only thing that was very close to his heart...

"I understand, Selphie... You're longing to prepare your lil' party in the Garden, aren't you?"

"Er... Yes, indeed, I am.", she answered shyly.

They watched each other for a while...

"Irvine...", she said.

"Yes?", he replied, smiling.

"After this clash against Galbadia Garden I thought my party was definitely a bust... but now you're telling me... now that I know I have someone to help me...", she said with a hesitating voice.

Irvine remained silent. He was desperately trying to have girlfriends by taking pleasure in his "cool" attitude, but this was hiding his real qualities too often. Selphie was very clear-headed to know that Irvine would do anything to please people and that he was no liar at all. Unlike Squall, she had guessed right from the start that he would be a loyal and trustworthy team member.

"Irvine... thank you!", she said at last.

"Er... you... you're welcome.", he stammered.

Barrett appeared immediately after.

"Irvine? Oh, sorry to disturb you two!", he said as he saw the two young people face to face.

"It doesn't matter, Mr Barrett.", Selphie answered.

"Call me Barrett, okay?", the juggernaut replied to her in an unusual friendly tone.

Barrett recalled her adopted daughter. "Marlene..."

"You resemble her a bit...", he said aloud.

"Who?", Selphie asked.

"Marlene... my adopted daughter. She's got hair quite like yours, Selphie. You make me think about her sometimes..."

"How old is she?", Irvine continued.

"Four..."

There was silence all around. Barrett was looking down. In his memory, all the battles he had led for the sake of the Planet came back. Dyne, his former friend, Marlene, and all his acquaintances he had in his former place, the mining town North Corel... Then Cloud and Tifa...

He remembered them... in the beginning he depreciated Cloud, but nevertheless Cloud succeeded in being imperative within their group and in leading them during their battles. Cid came back into Barrett's mind too. How come such a weirdo, some time ago, could have saved his native town, North Corel, from destruction? This was clear... he couldn't do anything else than trust them all, Cloud and Tifa... Cid as well...

... And Irvine and Selphie as well. The two young SeeD fighters made it high into Barrett's consideration, after the battles they won. Why didn't he appreciated them from the start? Why wasn't he able to contain his wrath? Maybe it was due to his frustration because he and his mates failed to give Sephiroth the coup de grâce, and were dragged by their archenemy into this "nutty castle" before he got away.

"Sorry...", he said.

"Why for?", Selphie asked.

"For having behaved like a boor with you.", Barrett replied. "I just couldn't... I didn't know that... well... it's because Sephiroth has..."

"Barrett...", a determined Irvine replied. "Even if _we _don't really know who Sephiroth is, we will help you, Cloud, Tifa, Cid and you too. We're all going to make it alive. Squall isn't intending to leave you behind either."

"Really?", Barrett said. "Yeah, it's true... This guy has saved our lives with his Gravity attacks. I owe him one indeed..."

The machine gunner paused, then said:

"I wanted to meet you, Irvine, to learn about your special ammunition."

"Oh, for that... erm... first of all, let me see the bullets you use for your machine gun, okay?"

~~

Zell was overexcited. According to himself, he hadn't given enough punches and kicks. While his other team members were quietly sitting on the stairs in the Hall, Zell was in a fighting stance and was punching in the air.

"Zell! Can't you just keep cool for a while?" Squall asked, tired.

"I can't do anything against it!", Zell replied. "I just can't stand staying here and doing nothing. I wanna fight, that's all."

"Tell me Squall, your friend is always like this?", Cloud whispered to Squall.

"That's how he is usually... but I have to get used with it anyway. He's restless but on the other hand..."

"I see...", Cloud replied.

Nevertheless, Tifa was interested by Zell's fighting style. She recalled her lessons she got from her former martial arts master, five years ago... just before Nibelheim was burnt down.

"Erm... Zell?", she asked, hesitating and determined at the time.

The young man stopped his punches and kicks and turned to Tifa.

"I have to talk to you for a moment.", she said. Then she faced the two swordsmen.

"Tell me, does it matter if we both go to the next room, on the right side? You know, the room with the bell?"

"Why?", Cloud asked, as he was surprised by Tifa's request.

"Don't worry, I have my idea. After all he needs to train a bit, right?", she said and winked at Squall.

"If you want so...", Cloud answered. He seemed to understand Tifa's intentions.

Tifa headed to the right side of the balustrade.

"Zell? Follow me.", she said once at the top.

He climbed the stairs four at a time, caught up with Tifa and the two fighters went into the next room.

"Have you understood what she was intending to do?", Squall asked.

"It seems she wanted to train a bit too, but she needed a partner. She was searching for one for a long time.", Cloud answered.

"And what about you, then?"

"I have no training in martial arts. I would have been a very bad teacher, and a too easy-to-defeat opponent." He thought. "At least Zell will not annoy you for some time, right?", he finished, smiling.

Squall heard Quistis laughing up her sleeve behind him.

"...Whatever", he sighed, discountenanced.

~~

"Let me guess...", Zell asked Tifa once they both got down the balustrade. "You brought me here because you are a... because you use your fists like me, right?"

"Right.", Tifa replied as she arranged her very long hair. "I know a great deal in hand-to-hand combat and I'd like to estimate what you're capable of."

Zell squeezed his knuckles.

"No problem!", he said before putting himself into a fighting stance.

Zell attempted a punch but Tifa, who was very nimble, dodged it. She retaliated with a kick but she missed Zell. He had no difficulty in blocking the three punches she sent him after, but no matter how he tried to uppercut her, he never managed to hit her.

"What the hell is this? ", he retorted, breathless.

He shouldn't have spoken. He just had time enough to see the direct punch Tifa was about to give him and back-flipped to retreat.

"_I _should rather ask this question to you instead!", Tifa exclaimed, as she noticed Zell's quickness. "I never saw in my entire life someone as... energetic, apart from Barrett."

"It's true, your gunner friend must really be an imposing guy.", Zell replied.

"Maybe...", Tifa continued. "But he's not as fast as you."

They exchanged some kicks, then Tifa resumed:

"Maybe it comes from the fact that I'm less experienced than you."

"Yeah? How long you've been practising martial arts?", Zell asked, curious to know.

"Six years... how about you?"

"Four years. Shame for you!", Zell retorted before he gave a return kick that Tifa dodged the best she could.

The fight resumed immediately after. Tifa was striking and Zell was parrying or dodging. Five minutes later, she declared:

"Stop it!"

"What, stop it?", Zell said.

"This leads us to nowhere... duelling isn't the only way to know which one of us is the best. We should better preserve our strength against Ultimecia. We have so much left to do, right or wrong?"

"Well... you're right!", Zell confirmed.

"Another point: in five minutes, none of us has succeeded in hitting each other. So, the only way to sort this out would be a fight against one of Ultimecia's servants. Us both against this opponent.", Tifa continued.

"Well if you think so... anyway, thanks for the fight."

"You're welcome!"

~~

"GODDAMN HOLY $%*§@#% !!!"

Cid's swearing could be heard from the hall. Squall, puzzled, got up and headed to the door leading to the tapestry corridor. He had barely made three steps that it flung open, and Cid turned up, alarmed.

"Squall," he said. "Come and see this!"

The SeeD could see his Gunblade on the corridor's floor but it looked completely different. Its blade had turned blue-shaded, and was thinner and sharper. Moreover, its grip had become metallic. Squall picked it up and tried to wield it. It seemed particularly lighter than before.

"What exactly have you done?", Squall asked, still intrigued.

"I've only followed instructions.", Cid answered. "I had to dismantle this damn turtle shell in order to extract some particles that..."

"All right, all right...", Squall broke. "I know these instructions. You fixed all this on the blade, then you loaded the Pulse Ammo in the cylinder."

"And AT THAT TIME, this thing has started to shine as the sun... When I've opened my eyes again, I got this."

Squall watched his Gunblade, then Cid. The spearman looked sincere, and eventually, the most important for him was to find his weapon in one piece.

"Thanks for the help anyway.", he said to Cid before sheathing his weapon.

Meanwhile, Barrett, Selphie and Irvine were back again in the hall. Barrett was wearing around his chest a belt of machinegun bullets having a quite special shape.

"Irvine did it.", he explained. "He helped me to craft this special ammunition."

Zell and Tifa turned up a bit later.

"So, how about this fight?", Cloud asked them.

"Fight? What fight?", Barrett roared, surprised.

"Calm down, it was a training between them.", Cloud said to him in a low voice, the he turned to the other two people: "How has it been?"

"It was a draw.", Tifa answered.

"I'd rather say _you_ first wanted to stop...", Zell pointed out, derisive.

"Zell, watch out what you're saying! Have you forgotten we'd better..."

"...keep our strength against Ultimecia? I know! I might be younger than you, but I'm not a kid anymore!", Zell broke.

As he listened to Tifa, the young SeeD thought he was facing Seifer as he had to during his first mission in Dollet, during the SeeD exam. Since then, he couldn't stand being reprimanded by anybody. However...

"However...", he thought, "Tifa is very different from Seifer. At least she's not the kind of person that criticizes all the time, as this idiot does. After all, she's quite right..."

"Hey, I never thought of you as a kid!", Tifa retorted, being on the defensive. "I simply mean that..."

She hesitated. She couldn't figure out what to say without being unsure that Zell wouldn't get more irritated.

"It doesn't matter. We'll talk about it later.", she continued. Then, turning to Cloud and Squall: "Okay, now that we're all here, what do we do?"

"We proceed to the inner courtyard.", Squall answered.

"All right. I would have taken the same choice.", Cloud observed.

On these words, the ten fighters took the tapestry corridor, went through the domed room with its dangerous chandelier, then headed outside.

In the courtyard, the atmosphere was not more comforting than in the hall. The monster statues that were decorating the two towers seemed to observe the group from their heights. The fountain in which Cid had found the key was still here, silent. The towers and the chapel were imposing by these heights, and between the two towers, on the sentry corridor...

"Sephiroth. He's still there.", Cloud announced.

The nine other fighters could see this time the black-caped man's silhouette becoming more distinct. They saw him pacing up and down, from one side of the corridor to the other. His long whitish hair was floating in the wind.

A deep and terrifying voice could be heard through the courtyard.

"This is surprising from you, Cloud. How could you and your stupid comrades could have found me?"

"Sephiroth!", Cloud exclaimed.

"I thought I could be quiet here once Ultimecia had cast her time compression, allowing me to see her _at last! _No one there but us, quiet enough to set up our plans to rule over the Universe..."

"WHAT!", Squall shouted, indignant. "So Ultimecia has really drawn you here?"

"Hey, I guess it's those people called the SeeD, right? Ultimecia had talked about you and your worthless values. You must know that she gave me responsibility to communicate her deepest disgust to you, and to welcome you with ... this!"

Upon these words, Cloud saw Sephiroth disappear into the right tower.

"This? What's this?", Squall wondered.

The group heard wings rustling. Everyone turned to the place where the noise was coming from.

It was a kind of purplish-coloured jumbo insect.

"Hey, I'm dreaming?", Zell shouted. "It looks like a gigantic Bite Bug!"

Indeed it was one. The insect had the wings, feelers, stings and pincers of a Bite Bug, but ten times bigger. It spoke to the group in an almost deafening buzz:

"I am the Giga Bug Queen... the Queen of all those Bite Bugs you've slaughtered, cursed warriors..."

The humming of the Queen's wings became more and more deafening, then turned into a real storm. The fighters got disorientated by the noise and dropped their weapons. Even Barrett lost the cylinder of his machinegun as the gust of wind was growing stronger.

Squall wanted to take his Gunblade back, but was stopped dead by another gust.

"So how does it make you feel when you get disarmed?", throbbed the creature.

Then, in a flash, all of their weapons were blown away to the back of the chapel.

"So what do you plan to do now?", the creature taunted. "Try to beat me barehanded?"

The word "barehanded" made Zell's spirit detonate. Even if the other people had lost their weapons, he still had his fists at his disposal.

"I have no weapon... I have nothing...", he thought. "Nothing but these good ol' fists of mine!".

He turned to Tifa who was watching the monster with apprehension.

"Tifa? D'you know what I'm thinking about?", he told her before taking a fighting stance.

She quickly understood.

"Cloud, Squall and the others", she told them. "You'd better return to the chandelier room. We're taking care of this beast."

"But... Tifa!", Cloud exclaimed.

"That's suicidal!", Squall added.

"Sorry... but we're the only two people in the group who know how to fight barehanded. It will be Tifa and I versus this.", Zell continued.

"If you want it so... good luck then.", Squall answered.

"Tifa... Take care.", said Cloud in a worried voice, before he went with the other people back inside.

The two remained still for a moment, staring at the insect straight to her numerous eyes.

"So you REALLY intend to fight me barehanded?", buzzed the Queen.

"That's the only thing we can do, and we can't do it otherwise. Does it make a problem?", Zell countered sarcastically.

Tifa couldn't help laughing.

"How could you be so careless!", the insect said. "You haven't seen everything from me yet..."

Tifa and Zell could hear like a buzz becoming louder and louder. They turned and saw a swarm of Bite Bugs charging straight to them!

The two fighters didn't waste one more second and each of them rushed to one of the Bugs. Tifa pushed he fist into the shelled body of the first Bite Bug she encountered. Zell struck so hard that the transparent wings of his opponent detached, leaving it on the ground, defenceless.

"How could you...?" throbbed the Queen in anger.

The two didn't pay attention to her. They first needed to get rid of this swarm. The Bugs had succeeded in stinging them many times, but their number seemed to be insufficient, compared to the two allies' punching and kicking power. Their stings were breaking under their attacks, wings got ripped off, pincers were falling while Zell was sending more Punch Rushes, and Tifa more Somersaults. The swarm soon turned into heap of insect corpses, scattered over the courtyard.

The Queen was appalled with this.

"YOU CURSED WARRIORS!", she throbbed at them.

She shook her wings so fast and so strong that Zell and Tifa got blown away. The gust of wind was pushing them to the middle of the courtyard, to the fountain. No matter how hard they tried to walk back to the Queen, nothing could do, the wind was too strong.

"We gotta do something!", Zell shouted.

"Yeah but what?", Tifa answered.

Zell had an idea.

"Let's lay down! The wind will have less hold over us!"

So they did immediately.

"Now, let's try to approach her and then..."

Tifa and Zell started to crawl like snakes on the paved alley. They had to grip on the slits between the paving stones to avoid being blown away by the Queen. It was hard since each single movement they did required an effort, as if they had to climb a cliff. The Queen noticed this and shook her wings even faster. Tifa almost let go but Zell saw the girl was in trouble and hoisted her with his left hand, as he kept his right hand between two paving stones.

They had reached just underneath the Queen. She could unfortunately not see under her own body, the only place that wasn't reached by the strong wind. Zell and Tifa didn't waste a second, got back up, concentrated, dashed in the air and hit the monster with a devastating uppercut...

The Giga Bug Queen rocked, and her gusts of wind stopped straight away.

"It's not over yet...", she buzzed before emitting a greenish gas cloud that looked particularly toxic.

The two fighters rapidly crouched before breathing in a vast amount of pure air and holding their breath. As the cloud of gas dissipated, the Queen saw her two enemies on the ground but still _alive!_

"No... this is not possible!", she throbbed.

Yet it was...

"I have enough of it, Zell. Let's finish!", Tifa declared between two coughing fits.

"I wanted to do the same too...", Zell answered, after getting back up. "Let's show her the best... or should we say the _worst _of ourselves!"

Tifa concentrated, moved her right hand back and gathered a huge quantity of energy. Zell jumped, froze in mid-air, stared at the Queen and gathered his energy between his two fists. The two hurled themselves at the same time and struck the insect. The double energy blast burnt her wings down and blew her away. The Queen got high into the dark sky then fell back near the ramparts, carbonised, before going into dust.

Zell whistled in admiration as he looked at Tifa.

"Cool attack!", he said.

"Really?", she answered as she arranged her long black hair behind her. "I could tell you the same, you know, cause yours is indeed worth what I've just done."

"Well, looks like our duel is a draw...", Zell said.

"A draw but we won nevertheless.", Tifa added.

They burst into laughter.

"Okay, let's go and look for their weapons.", Zell suggested.

They took the path on the left and went along the chapel. Not far from it they could see, near the ramparts, all of their companions' weapons.

"Very well...", Tifa noticed. "So... Barrett's machinegun cylinder, Cid's spear... Cloud's sword... and Squall's sword is there too. How original to mount a blade on a revolver grip."

"It's original but dangerous for our enemies, in any case.", Zell answered. "Yes... we've got Quistis' whip, Selphie's nunchaku, Irvine's shotgun... everything's okay, Rinoa's Blaster Edge is there too."

They took the weapons and went back to the room with the chandelier.

****

Author's note : How did you appreciate? Good? Bad? Whatever... ? Just drop your comments.

I'm a bit long for the update, sorry, but I'm now busy working on longer and longer chapters. As some people say, patience is a virtue. ^_^

Greets go to:

Raven: yes indeed, my grandmother has a dog, a very affectionate one too. I guess Angelo would act this way after waiting all this time outside Ultimecia's castle with no one to open the main gates! I hope you liked this chapter.

Rosa Heartlily and Mandy (from DSL): thank you both for your support. And Mandy, don't worry about not having time to read my story, I won't reproach you this (why should I anyway?).

Mauka Icefire: yeah! Another new reader... I'm glad you enjoyed this story. You'll soon be able to look forward for more if writing and translating don't take too much time for me.

Friendly feelings from

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	10. New Leaps

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : As usual... Squaresoft gets all credits, but this time, the El*** and the St*** G*** are mine (erm, find out by yourself what I'm talking about, I don't want to spoil my own story!).

-~-

****

CHAPTER 10

NEW LEAPS

-~-

Squall had resumed his usual calm attitude. Rinoa was thoughtfully watching him...

"Squall...", she asked him. "May I talk to you for a while? In the corridor?"

He thought, then replied:

"If you want it..."

Rinoa could hardly get over it. Squall seemed more and more receptive. He would never have accepted it some days ago... Quistis didn't say a word, but thought the same way. So the two headed to the carpeted corridor.

Once inside, Rinoa asked:

"Remember, the room with the moat... you told me you will talk about it later..."

"Oh, this...", Squall recalled. "It's because..."

The young Gunblader had much trouble finding the right words. Why? Was it really due to the fact that he could not show his feelings or because Rinoa was intimidating him? He eventually managed to say:

"I was worried for the three people in the dungeon."

Rinoa said nothing, but she remembered the moment where Squall had declared almost the same thing. It was at Fisherman's Horizon, right after the BGH251F2 machine was destroyed... Since then, he confessed her many times he confessed his recent need to protect other people. Each time she could hardly believe he was saying the truth, but as time passed, he was more and more credible. But was he really worried? Was he still concealing his feelings from her?

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no, not at all!", she quickly told him back. "Remember what I said in FH?"

"What?"

"Don't make me believe that your Guardian Forces made you forget this too!"

"No... don't fret, I have it back. You told me they're my comrades, but moreover, they're my friends, am I not mistaken?"

"This is correct. You remember it well, you know..."

"And then?"

Rinoa wanted to go straight to the point.

"You have really changed since then. I remember... in the forest between Timber and Galbadia Garden, when you were demoralizing poor Zell. It looked like you found it amusing..."

"Rinoa!...", Squall interrupted. He didn't want to hear more, but he was feeling that she was right in some way. "Sure", he thought. "Zell had made a big mistake in letting out that we were SeeDs from Balamb Garden... but why couldn't I do anything to cheer him up?".

And what was unexpected for him, was being almost congratulated by her for his devotion to the group!

"Rinoa...", he repeated. "Forgive me..."

"Listen, Squall... don't feel guilty for this, what matters the most for us is to make it back alive. For now, the three things that count the most for me are Ultimecia, then our four comrades from elsewhere..."

"True.", Squall added. "We still have no clue about their origins in space or time, but I hope we will solve their mystery soon."

He paused before asking her:

"And the third one?"

"Our promise...", she said, almost whispering.

"I'm still keeping it.", Squall murmured. "I'll be waiting here, I promise."

"Oh, thanks Squall!", Rinoa replied before hugging him. Squall hold her in his arms too. A while later, the door flung open and Zell came in.

"Uh oh... looks like I'm coming at the wrong moment again.", he said embarrassed.

"No! Don't worry, you're not!", Rinoa replied.

"If you got reasons to turn up this way, I won't blame you... So, what's going on?", Squall asked.

"We reduced this Bug Queen to smithereens and we retrieved our weapons.", the puncher declared in a triumphant voice. "Now you can get them back!"

Squall looked pleased.

"Excellent work, Zell.", he told him before coming back to the chandelier room with Rinoa.

He took his Gunblade back. All of the other fighters had already done so, Barrett was busy repairing his machine gun implanted on his right arm, with the help of Cid and the tools the pilot was carrying in his vest. The work was almost over. Tifa was hugging Cloud, whose sword was as always hooked on his back. Quistis and Selphie were wielding their weapons. Irvine checked if his shotgun hadn't lost shells. Angelo was quietly lying on the ground, gnawing at a bone.

"Yo, look! I ain't lying!", Zell told them as he opened the big doors.

Squall shivered with disgust. Cloud remained there, gaping. They all saw in the courtyard a hundred blue Bite Bugs corpses, then what was left from the Queen, an enormous pile of ashes in which were half-burrowed her violet-coloured sting and pincers.

"Sephiroth must be furious at the time.", Cloud declared.

"Yeah, and I guess Ultimecia must be too. Out of twelve, that makes eight servants terminated.", Squall added. "Okay, let's get back to the courtyard."

The ten fighters (eleven, if we include Angelo) walked to the fountain, placed at the centre of the courtyard, to find themselves at the junction.

"It seems that this chapel is the only way to the sentry box above us.", Quistis said. "I bet there are other things to see in this place."

"Yeah, I'm sure!", Zell approved. "There must be some of her minions out there!"

"So? Who's doing what?", Squall asked.

"What if we take the same teams as before and that we take the same paths again?", Barrett suggested. "I personally fancy to have Irvine by my side for his special ammo, and Selphie appears to get on well with her magic support."

Selphie became red with amazement.

"So, Cid? Zell? How about it?", Quistis asked.

"No prob, Miss Quistis.", Cid answered, still smoking his cigarette.

"OK.", Zell approved, squeezing his knuckles.

"Very good.", Cloud said as he noticed Angelo. "Er... and who's the dog coming with?"

"He's coming with us. I own this dog, his name's Angelo."

Hearing these words, Angelo immediately came towards his mistress.

"Let's meet again in the fountain. See you later and good luck.", Squall concluded.

And so the three teams parted. Quistis, Cid and Zell were heading to the left side of the Citadel, while Selphie, Irvine and Barrett followed the path on the right.

The two couples and Angelo had just entered the chapel, as imposing by its height as it was impressive with its decorations, even if the room itself had quite a modest surface for a church. A single nave was on the left, the right side being occupied by a stone staircase going up to the towers. After the series of columns forming the nave, was a huge pipe organ. The wall against which it was set had many multicoloured stained-glass windows, depicting many monster types: Caterchipillars, Fastitocalons, Grendels... and other creatures Squall and Rinoa did not know about.

"This one on the top-right", Cloud explained, "with his jumbo oval arms, is a Zemzelet. The other one on the left, with the sort of spider legs, is a Stilva. A very dangerous monster with merciless magical attacks."

"But Cid has quickly taken upon himself to learn these attacks, you remember that?", Tifa precised.

"Yeah, yeah, but this won't gonna help much. Cid is with Zell and the girl in orange, Quistis, right? So it's useless to think about enemy skills... What the..."

The stained-glass windows seemed to come to life... A second later, a Fastitocalon got out and fell right upon the group. Squall didn't waste time and smashed it with his Gunblade.

"But... what in all creation is...", Tifa stammered, surprised.

Rinoa, as nimble as Squall, cast her Blaster Edge on the Caterchipillar that had got out of the window. Tifa got over her surprise and gave a violent elbow punch to the crawling insect to finish it. But this wasn't over yet.

The Zemzelet had soon turned up too, and introduced himself with a Thunderbolt. Cloud, furious because of the electroshock, countered with a serious sword attack. Even if it surpassed the four comrades by size and height, the monster couldn't resist Cloud's strength and fell, lifeless, on the ground. Then, a Grendel took its place.

"A Grendel", Squall commented, "is a dragon-like creature, attacking essentially with its claws and fangs. Consequently, a very physical type of opponent."

Cloud raised his sword, waiting for the beast, observing the group with its small eyes, to charge. It made an outstanding leap and rushed towards Tifa. The girl failed the uppercut she wanted to give and found herself on the ground, trapped by the beast's paws.

"NO!", Cloud yelled, before running to the monster, his sword still raised in the air. The blade notched the thick skin of the Grendel who grunted and let its prey go away. Angelo took opportunity to bite the monster's throat. No matter how Grendel shouted, groaned and shook, the dog didn't want to let go. Tifa, once freed from the monster's grasp, cast a Quake to make it pass away.

However, the Stilva that Cloud had pointed before was going out of the window and taking its real size. The creature had a mantis-like body, but brown, and in addition to its two long arms, it had six big legs. It almost looked like a spider. Before our comrades had time to say a word, the monster made a demonstration of its special skill, that Cloud dreaded: the Magic Breath.

Multicoloured bubbles filled the room and hit the team. All four of them got burnt, frozen and electrocuted. In ten brief seconds, they were all down. Squall and Rinoa had fainted, but Cloud got up. He immediately raised his hand and shouted: "Stop!"

The monster moved slower and slower, then completely froze.

"Very well...", Cloud said. "This gives us time to take action. Let's take care of them, Tifa."

They brought Squall and Rinoa round with their curative spells. The two got up and saw their motionless opponent. Cloud resumed his explanations:

"We've been victims of the Magic Breath, the most dangerous attack this monster is able to give, because of its triple elemental nature. There's no time to waste, we must terminate it before it regains consciousness!"

Tifa cast a Quake, soon followed by a Bio from Cloud. Meanwhile, Stilva took blow after blow but started to move slowly. The beast was almost about to invoke a second Magic Breath.

"Squall.", Rinoa suggested. "Try to distract this monster while I finish to prepare Ultima."

The Gunblader quickly understood and cast Flare. Stilva got disorientated and clumsily cast a part of its magical powers back onto itself. For Rinoa, it was now or never. The girl raised a hand, faced Stilva and invoked Ultima. The creature died, as it got wrapped into the green magic energy globe.

The five corpses started to rot, then disintegrated. At the same time, the stained-glass window at the centre lit up. Squall couldn't distinguish what it depicted, but despite the dazzling light, Cloud could see the shape of an enemy that looked familiar to him.

"What's up, Cloud? You're as hypnotized...", Squall told him.

Cloud closed his eyes and turned away from the stained-glass window.

"It's nothing. I think I know in advance who our next enemy is. Be ready to land in a swamp!"

"That's impossible!", Tifa exclaimed.

"Which swamp?", Rinoa asked.

She rapidly obtained an answer. The surroundings started to wave, as it did during the battles between the SeeD and the Sorceresses from all times. In a moment, the chapel vanished. The fighters, Angelo included, were out again, in a place Cloud and Tifa seemed to know, but was looking remarkably strange for Squall et Rinoa.

Swamps. Swamps as far as the eye could see...

"Wait a minute, Cloud. How could you know about this swamp thing?", Squall asked.

"Because... we have fought monsters coming from our world along with creatures coming from yours. And the monster on the centre window belongs to our world, at least I think so. There's only one place where we could meet it."

"So, we are... at your place?", Rinoa asked.

"I'm sure we are.", the swordsman replied. "We must be close from Midgar now, do you see the Meteor?"

Indeed, the four could see, somewhere in the sky, the big glowing asteroid that was inevitably going to cause the end of the planet.

"Look out, it's coming that way!", Cloud shouted. He pointed to a place with his sword. The three other people saw something ploughing the muddy lands and drawing closer to the team. They took their stands.

"Midgar Zolom...", Tifa said. "The swamp snake. How come it's still alive? Sephiroth had impaled this creature before, right?"

"I don't know...", Cloud replied. The swordsman hadn't lowered his weapon.

Suddenly, a huge greenish snake sprung out of the marsh. Its height of fifty feet made him surpassing everybody. It lowered its head and observed the team, with its yellow eyes.

"Issssssss that ALL Ultimesssssssssia bringsssssssss me to eat for today?", the snake hissed. "Anyway, I have to do with-th-th-th it!"

"Wait. You've talked about Ultimecia, haven't you?", Squall asked. "How come she could have any thing to do with you since you're not from the same world?"

"It'ssssssss easy to undersssssssstand..", the snake continued, waving its forked tongue. "Indeed Sssssephiroth brought me to death-th-th. But the knowledge of thisssssss warrior, combined with Ultimessssssia's sssssssorcery, in addition to time compressssssssion made it very easy to ressssssssurect me and make me become one of his mosssssssst devoted ssssssservants... or rather THEIR ssssssservants. Anyway, thissssss doesn't matter... you're going to die!"

~~

"You know, Cid... you may simply call me Quistis.", Quistis said to Cid as both of them and Zell were walking past the chapel, by the left path.

"As you wish... Cigarette?", Cid offered.

"No thanks. Keep them for you, none of us smokes anyway.", the SeeD instructor replied.

They were in front of a small building, stuck to the ramparts. It had a door and windows in more modest sizes than the other doors and windows in the castle. The building looked ridiculous compared to the chapel, the manor or the towers. However, a detail drew Cid's attention: a sign was placed near the entrance, and it read: 

__

THE BLACK DEATH LOOMS HERE

"Weird message...", Cid said, intrigued. "Your witch must love riddles... First in this Blue Magic book, now this house..."

Nevertheless he went on reading. The next message was written in small letters:

__

Your saviour will be my failure

"What does that mean?", Zell asked, taken aback.

"What saves us could be hazardous to someone or something?", Quistis commented, thinking. "Maybe this house could give us extra information."

"Like one of Ultimecia's minions for example!", Zell added in excitement.

"Er, Zell, besides fighting all the time, what do you enjoy in life?", Cid asked him in an almost nagging tone.

"Me... I dunno.", Zell answered, embarrassed. "Maybe hotdogs... But there are never enough of them for all of us in our Garden."

"Poor Zell actually always comes to the cafeteria when there's none of them left.", Quistis precised before laughing up her sleeve.

Cid smiled as he heard Quistis. Zell didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry, Zell, I'll try to pre-order some for you, next time.", Quistis reassured. "Well, should we go now?"

Cid unlocked the door with the key he found in the fountain, and Quistis opened it. The building was a sort of hangar, in which were many gardening tools and stone blocks. Some of these blocks were partly cut into statues. Many torches were providing some light to the room. But when the three of them came in, the biggest statue came into life and marched towards them. It was a giant humanoid, around eight or nine feet high. Its body was completely modelled in dark stone. A Stone Golem... 

"As you have read it at the entrance, I am the Black Death... I'm _your _death!"

~~

Once they made their way to the ramparts, Selphie, Irvine and Barrett took deep breaths.

"Woo... these stairs are way too tiring!", Selphie remarked, as she was exhausted.

"Don't complain... when I was in Midgar I got landed with 59 floors to climb by foot with Cloud and Tifa, just to avoid being spotted in this cursed ShinRa Tower!", Barrett retorted.

"59?", Selphie repeated, staring wide-eyed. "The tower of this meteor fortress is 59 floors high?"

"A bit more in fact... I was no longer feeling to take a single staircase after having visited this tower... although we really needed to act discreetly and take the service staircase rather than rousing a whole bunch of ShinRa soldiers, don't you think? Cloud was somewhat right about this..."

"If you wanted to act discreetly...", Selphie said. "then what did you plan to do there?"

"Cloud wanted to rescue a girl, held captive as an experiment subject...", Barrett started.

Selphie recalled Laguna at that time. In the dreams she and the other SeeD have done, Laguna had done something similar: he had saved Ellone... and Ellone was this extravagant Dr Odine's obsession, since the scientist wanted to study about her gift at all costs...

"One question: did that girl have something particular?", Selphie asked.

"In some way she did. She told me she could communicate with the planet, but I don't remember exactly... Anyway, Cloud saved her, but Sephiroth killed her some days later."

Irvine and Selphie remained gaping.

"Cloud is annoyed with himself because he couldn't have saved her from the blade of Sephiroth's long sword. It's also one of the reasons why he's still looking for this cursed guy."

"What was her name?", Irvine asked.

"Aeris, I think...", Barrett answered.

"What a beautiful name..." Selphie said.

"Yeah... it's a shame she's not in our world anymore. Although..."

Barrett hesitated.

"Eden... and Aeris... their voices sound strangely almost the same."

"Do you think our Guardian Force Eden had something to you with that girl, Aeris?", Irvine asked.

"Could be...", the juggernaut replied, scratching his head with his unique hand.

At the same moment, a really hideous winged monster came out from nowhere. It had a greenish-coloured humanoid chest, equipped with two long arms ended by two disproportionate clawed hands. Its two blue wings were spread from its back. Its head was topped by a yellow comb and also had a beak from the same colour. Lastly, a long black sting was hanging from the bottom of its body.

"An Elvoret ? Like the one we met in Dollet's Communication Tower?", Selphie said. "Bleh... it's too ugly!"

"According to its colour, it's an Elmorimax. Even worse than Elvoret... ", Irvine added. "I heard about these creatures while I was still studying in Galbadia. I think it's a good opportunity to test our ammunition, Barrett!"

As Elmorimax dashed towards them, the three fighters drew their weapons.

~~

Midgar Zolom was staring at the four fighters, who were awaiting for it to go into the attack. The snake made a sudden dive towards Cloud who showed his remarkable agility in a side-jump, avoiding the head of the snake. The monster was consequently obliged to take Cloud and Squall's sword bashings, in addition to Angelo who had gripped its tail with his jaws. However, the snake managed to get rid of the dog, who got hurled some yards further, but rapidly got back on his paws.

"I'm going to teach you not to harm my dog...", Rinoa said angrily to the snake who raised its head. She shot her Blaster Edge and cut its skin, but the creature dashed upon Rinoa and blocked her with its mouth in no time. Panicked, Squall ran to it and exploded his Gunblade on its right eye, assisted by a Thundaga coming from Tifa.

Rinoa wasn't feeling good: she was poisoned by Midgar Zolom's breath. Nevertheless, she got quickly cured with a Remedy from Tifa.

"You have not ssssssseen everything of me yet, curssssssssed fightersssssssss!", the snake retorted.

As it folded itself down, its left eye, still unhurt, became glowing red. Then it raised its head in the air, its mouth wide open and giving a hoarse cry. At that time, a huge red-orange-coloured magic cone surrounded our comrades. Midgar Zolom had its special trick in store for them: Beta, a powerful Fire spell.

"Uuurgh... it's too hot!", Squall shouted.

"I'm stuffing in there!", Tifa said.

"This is infernal...", Rinoa added.

As the magic cone dissipated, the four could really hardly stand.

"Very well...", Cloud thought. "If you choose to play like this... let's fight against fire with fire..."

He cast Regen-All on the whole team, then asked:

"Rinoa... make him shut up!"

"Okay.", she replied. She cast Silence just after. The white mist hit Midgar Zolom. The snake stayed frozen for a while, its mouth still gaping. Rinoa managed to neutralize its magic powers.

"Hey, I want to have some fun too!", Tifa continued in a smile, before she invoked another Thundaga. The snake got sledge-hammered by the lightning bolt and stiffly raised itself. Cloud and Squall ran towards it, shoved both of their blades to the hilt into its body then, still gripping their weapons as tight as they could, leapt in the air and slashed the snake's body in almost all of its length.

"I hope you enjoyed this double Climhazard!", Cloud said in a mocking voice.

Midgar Zolom was already turning into dust. Angelo shook himself and rejoined Rinoa, who was recovering, like the three other people, from the dreadful wounds inflicted by the Beta spell.

"One less again...", Squall said. "Well, where are we going now?"

"No idea...", Cloud answered in a doubtful voice. "If time compression allows us to move through time and space, there must be a way to return to Ultimecia's castle."

He hadn't finished his sentence as the landscape started to melt again. All of them were transported in a place that wasn't Ultimecia's castle at all. Their leap had carried them in a big cave, with blue-shaded stones, and also...

"Mako falls...", Tifa said. "We're in the Northern crater."

"Your place again?", an exasperated Squall asked. "If we go on like this we'll be lost in space and time!"

"What can I do about it? I'm not responsible for controlling our leaps in space and time.", Cloud retorted. "Don't accuse me without reason."

"Hey, I'm not accusing anyone!", continued Squall in a shocked voice.

"Hey, you two", Rinoa interrupted, "you won't solve this problem with endless arguments!"

The two stopped their quarrel then.

"Besides, we're going to check if our friends are still in this place, while we're here.", Tifa suggested.

They went down a track, winding through the cave, deeper and deeper, with falls of green energy on their way.

"So this is what you call Mako?", Squall asked, as he was observing the falls.

"Indeed.", Cloud explained. "It's our planet's spiritual energy. If it ever came to disappear, all life forms present on this planet would definitely be annihilated."

"This looks horrible...", Rinoa said, terrified. "And you want to prevent Sephiroth from getting it?"

"This was what we were trying to do when your enemy, Ultimecia, had cast her time compression.", Tifa replied.

Rinoa was watching the Mako falls with an admiring look.

"Besides it's really beautiful to see...", she said.

"Our materia come from Mako energy.", Cloud added. "I wonder how you people use magic in your world."

"Our Guardian Forces allow us to draw magic at some places, also known as draw-points.", Squall explained. "Magic is used against our enemies but also to boost our physical abilities."

"I understand...", Cloud said.

The group had reached the edge of a big hole, at the bottom of which was some jelly-like matter. On the edge...

They first saw lying on the ground a girl with braided black hair, tiny and thin, wearing white shorts and some kind of green jumper without sleeves. Her left arm was heavily protected, it even seemed to be incredibly bigger than her very thin right arm. She was still holding what seemed to be her weapon: an iron cross with pikes on each of the four extremities. A man was also lying next to her. He was dressed in black, and was wearing a red cape. His long black hair were held by a red bandanna. A gun was holstered in his belt. Squall and Rinoa were amazed by his left arm and hand, which were completely metalled. Near them was a tiny creature, looking like a white and black cat, perched upon a small and stocky white monster. Lastly they could see a quadruped creature, with orange fur, half-cat, half-dog, bearing a brown mane and two bird feathers on its head. Its tail was flaming and its body was tattooed, more particularly with the figure XIII, that Squall noticed first of all on this... animal.

All of them were on the ground, unconscious.

"Our comrades!", Cloud exclaimed.

Tifa came closer to the four and touched them one by one.

"They have fainted.", she said. "No need to rely upon them, sorry..."

"Yeah, I know...", Rinoa said. "These are the four people who didn't follow you."

"Yes...", Cloud replied. "Here are Yuffie, Vincent, Cait Sith et Red XIII..."

Squall looked closer to Red XIII. "That fur, that colour...", he thought. "It looks similar to the Moombas'."

~~

The Stone Golem was quite impossible to destroy. Even Zell couldn't do with the force of his fists. This annoyed the young man who then used Quake. The creature got down with the earthquake but quickly pulled itself up.

"Friggin' hell... I can't stand it any longer!", he said.

Cid was staring at the monster, and was clutching the handle of his spear. Something was somehow disconcerting him... the words written on the sign. What could they mean?

"Your saviour... my failure?", he thought. "What does this opposition stands for?"

"Cid! Do something!", Quistis said as she just dodged the Golem's fist.

He complied and took out some dynamite. He lit the wick with his cigarette and threw the dynamite in their enemy's face. The Golem roared with anger after the explosion.

"If we have to make it explode... Flare!", Quistis declared.

An enormous heat ball took form around the creature who nearly suffocated, but that still wasn't enough...

Zell received the monster's fist head on. He furiously retaliated with the technique he used to defeat the Queen: the Meteor Barret. The energy impact was such that Zell got through the Golem's body and left a hole in its torso. Around them all were scattered debris coming from the stone body. Unfortunately, this didn't suffice.

"What the hell is this ???", Zell exclaimed.

"You presumptuous man!", the Golem roared. "Look what you get when you annoy me!"

It pointed shiny eyes to Zell. At that moment, the young SeeD's body froze and started to radiate. Quistis and Cid turned away from the dazzling light. When the light ceased at least, they seemed to see the absolute horror: Zell was petrified!

"Damn it!", Cid shouted.

Quistis countered with another Flare, but the Golem overcame her and petrified her too.

"QUISTIS! $£*+%§&@#!!!"

Cid's swearing could be heard throughout the inner courtyard. The spearman, horror-struck, turned away from the creature and his two petrified comrades. He had to do something... anything... but now! Then, all of a sudden, he got an idea... He drew out of his pocket a greyish-coloured ball-like item.

"The only one I have...", he said, "but if this thing could save them, I'm gonna see what it does on YOU!"

He quickly turned back and threw the ball as fast and as strong as he could to the monster. The ball splattered and squirted a colourless liquid. Cid watched with a surprised look the liquid eating progressively into the body of the Golem who was yelling: 

"AAAARRRGH! I'm melting! You miserable fighter... you... have... won!"

Cid was proudly watching the stone colossus dismantling, shrivelling, as its body was dissolved by the liquid held in the Soft Cid had preciously kept in his vest. A moment later, there was just a tiny block of granite left.

"That's for you.", Cid declared with a victorious voice. He lit up another cigarette and was just about to smoke it when his eyes went across Zell and Quistis, still petrified. "I can't leave them alone, I'd better do something for these two! But what?"

Having found a way, he ran through the inner courtyard, heading to the room with the chandelier.

~~

Elmorimax was hovering back and forth around Irvine who couldn't hit him with his gunfire, due to the creature's amazing speed. Barrett was not shooting, though this wasn't in his habits. He wanted to spare his ammo in case the monster would be easier to shoot. However, Selphie made their work easier with a Slow she cast on their opponent to force Elmorimax to fly at lesser speed.

"It's up to you, Barrett!", Selphie shrieked.

The juggernaut sent a burst of Fire-type machinegun bullets. Elmorimax could hardly stand them. Irvine followed with half a dozen Fire Bullets too, and Selphie used her magic again with a Thundaga.

"Woohoo! Our magic's back!", she said in excitation.

Their most powerful spells were indeed operating anew. Elmorimax, however, had some surprises for the three of them. After it rushed on Selphie to send her with a claw swing to the other side of the sentry track (and making Irvine outraged), it blew out a puff of toxic gas from its yellow beak. Barrett and Irvine felt very uncomfortable and couldn't retaliate.

Elmorimax was charging at the two gunners to finish them, but Selphie, despite her wounds, managed to administer a second Thundaga to the flying creature before it was too late. The thunder strike was such that Elmorimax tumbled down into the inner courtyard. Selphie had time enough to cast two Esuna for Irvine and Barrett who immediately stopped suffocating, before their enemy came to charge again. The monster clawed Barrett, but the juggernaut was of course tougher than Selphie, and stood back up rapidly. Elmorimax concentrated to blow its bad breath once again, but this was an unforgivable mistake: a burst of AP Bullets coming from Barrett's machinegun and Irvine's shotgun tore its wings and made its sting explode. The monster fell, hit the ramparts, rolled over the rocks surrounding the castle and splashed in the ocean. A big vertical spray appeared over the water surface: Elmorimax had exploded just after its dive.

"Finally...", Selphie said, relieved. "I guess we really deserve this... Full Cure!"

A quick recovery later, Barrett started to speak again:

"What were we talking about before this thing attacked us?... Yeah... Eden and Aeris. I think the two must be linked, well... in my opinion."

"Maybe it's true...", Selphie said. "If Cloud and Squall and the others find this source of knowledge Eden told us about, they might get some clues."

"Yeah, yeah...", Barrett replied. "I wonder what they're doing now..."

****

Author's note : I told you that it was going to be longer! Er, by the way, have you noticed the little reference to FF9, with the killing Soft? Hehe... it's a crossover, after all... 

Yep, it was another triple front fight... looks like I like this kind of multiple action. As the saying say, "the more the merrier"! ::ducks tomatoes:: No please, stop!

I know that too much battles could ruin the fun... don't worry, next chapter will be less tense.

__

Bonjour to:

Rosa Heartlily, Gemini83: cool to see you're still here. Rosa, I'm still awaiting for the next part of your Cid/Edea fic. And Gemini, congratulations again for your FF7 story. See ya at DSL!

Lady Aliena: I have heard of Starship Troopers, though never seen it. I didn't think about this movie when I created the Bug Queen... but I'm glad you liked it. Go on with your fics, you're amazing.

And also Mauka Icefire, Steven, Raven, Bea-chan: thank you all. Stay tuned in for the next parts!

Special notice: I've finished that fic but in French. The next and last chapters are stored in my hard drive, awaiting for translation and release. I hope it won't take too much time...Anyway, receive all my best friendly feelings from me,

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	11. Revelations

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : Squaresoft will get credits for a great part of the story, the other part is mine. Now, shall we go?

-~-

****

CHAPTER 11

REVELATIONS

-~-

Cid was going down the spiral staircase, four at a time, to the cellar. Once downstairs, he took a look around: nobody was here. Then he briefly watched Tri Point's corpse. "Rest in peace, you $%*@#§!", he thought.

He headed to the desk. The "Blue Magic Spells" book was still on it, and still open at the Shockwave Pulsar page. Cid quickly leafed through the book, and came to a page explaining about the White Wind. He skimmed through the page and reached this sentence at the end of the page: "Caution: White Wind cannot save a petrified person."

"Exactly what I was thinking... Dammit!", Cid said.

But the spearman didn't lose hope. He took a deep breath and browsed through all the spells described in the book, one by one.

"Dragon Force... Death Force... Beta... Tryne... Magic Breath... Yeah I remember now, just after poor Aeris died... It was in Gaia cliffs, where this filthy Stilva was nesting!" he thought as he turned pages. "I remember how it was looking at me as he realized I could attack with its own weapon! It was terrific..."

He kept on leafing through the book, then eventually found a spell that caught his eye. The page was titled "Live Stone". Cid read it with attention:

"_This spell came from Hyne's descendants. It takes effect upon any living being, human or not, caster included, and allows to save the target from a petrifying attack, and also prevents it to be petrified by any attack. Be careful though: only a Dispel may override this protection_."

"I'll pay attention then...", Cid thought before going on reading.

"_To learn this spell, the caster will have to bring the remains of a creature able to petrify its opponents, such as Cockatrices_."

"The Stone Golem! This filthy thing didn't dissolve completely... I'm gonna get those damn remains now!", he suddenly said, before running upstairs to the hangar.

~~

Cloud was staring at the bottom of the hole. "The heart of the Planet.", he was thinking. "Sephiroth... he was down there... until this time compression started... how come we succeeded in making all that way to our starting point alive?"

"Seriously, Cloud...", Squall declared in his icy voice. "I wonder what we're doing here!"

"I already told you, it isn't my fault if we're back in my world.", Cloud said.

"This is not the only reason.", Squall went on. "Not only we're stuck in this hole without knowing how to get back to our time, but also your four other mates seem totally useless to us."

"And then what? You really think it's a good idea to put four more lives at risk?", Cloud countered.

Though his mind was storming, Squall didn't answer.

"In my opinion...", Cloud continued as he went closer to Yuffie, Vincent, Cait Sith and Red XIII, "we should better leave them here. It's already a stroke of luck to have them still alive, isn't it?"

"I agree with Cloud.", Rinoa added. "They would only slow us down, in such a state."

"All right... if you say so, Cloud...", Squall sighed. "But first of all I'd like to get out of here!"

At this time, the SeeD felt uneasy...

"Ouch! My head!", he shouted.

Squall's mind scrambled. No... how could this be...! Not Ellone again... not the exploits of Laguna again!... However, what he expected didn't happen. He didn't fall asleep, and Laguna and his two long-time friends Kiros and Ward didn't come to his mind. It was different... A very familiar voice was echoing in his head.

"_Go around the hole clockwise, Squall_...", it said.

"Eden...", Squall thought.

Rinoa rushed to Squall. At this very time, his headache stopped, but he was still a bit dizzy.

"What happened?", she questioned.

"Was... Eden...". Squall could hardly speak. "We must... go around this... clockwise."

"Let's do it then.", Tifa said.

After Squall recovered from his confusion, the four people did so, but as they were about to make half a clockwise turn, they disappeared!

~~

Cid went back down the cellar as fast as he could, holding the Stone Golem remains in his left hand, then he resumed his reading.

"_After this, the caster will have to call for Guardian Forces in order to transform the item and extract the magic allowing him or her to cast the spell._"

"Transforming the item?", Cid thought. He turned to the alchemy desk. "I guess I have to attempt this little experience again..."

He removed the bottle, still containing fragments of Moon Stones, from the stove. After taking another unused bottle, he helped himself with a hammer and a burin he took in the hangar to break the granite block into pieces, so that it could enter into the bottle. Satisfied with this, Cid set the bottle on the stove and a clean bowl on the other side of the network of pipes.

"Here goes nothing...", he said, as he cracked a match to light the stove.

Black smokes went through the pipes and jars. Cid took back his spear and watched the undergoing experiment. A black and jelly-like matter was taking form in the bowl Cid had put. As the smokes ceased, he was about to touch the jelly matter with his left hand but he stopped dead. What if this experiment only worked for Quistis? Cid was nothing of an expert in Blue Magic as she was, though he was used to casting Enemy Skills stored in one of his materias. Finally, if this could save them both, Zell and Quistis, why not giving it a try? 

Cid, touched the jelly matter in a resolute way. It disintegrated.

He stood there astonished. "Hey... I've done this for nothing?", he told himself.

He was wrong. A flash of blue and green magic light appeared at his feet and spiralled around his body. Once it reached the spearman's head, the light went dazzling for a short while and vanished. Cid look around him and noticed one of his materias attached to his spear was strongly glowing.

"The spell... My materia must have stored the spell!", he said.

He took the spiral staircase again, ran fast through the chandelier room and the courtyard. Once in the hangar, he stopped near Quistis and Zell, still petrified, took another deep breath, twirled his spear and shouted: "Live Stone !"

Once the spell was cast, the two stone bodies turned back to normal. Quistis, still dizzy because of the spell effects, asked Cid:

"What's going on here? Where's the Stone Golem?"

"I have finished it... with a Soft.", he said with a triumphant voice.

"You could have used it to save our lives...", Quistis continued.

"Yeah I know... but what about the riddle? Do you get it now?", Cid asked. "_Your saviour will be my failure._"

Zell had understood.

"Yeah! This is why you terminated this monster with your gizmo.", he said. "But how did you rescue us after?"

"With the magic book in the cave...", Cid proudly answered.

"Followed these instructions again, hunh?", Zell went on before laughing with Cid and Quistis.

~~

"Cloud? Cloud, you hear me?"

"I'm here, Squall..."

"Where, here?"

"I dunno! I can't see anything here."

"I can't either, you know... I can't even see my own body."

"Rinoa? Rinoa, is that you?"

"Yes, I'm here too..."

"Tifa?"

"Cloud? Where are you?"

"No idea, but all of us are here."

"Squall? Are you sure Eden told us to go here?"

"Whatever..."

"Whatever what?"

Neither Cloud, nor Squall, nor Tifa nor Rinoa could distinguish anything at all.

"I guess your big bird has spotted a space-time rift."

"If you say so, Tifa..."

"I wish there was some light here..."

It seemed someone heard Rinoa's wish. In a short while, many torches appeared, showing our friends the place they had reached. It wasn't Ultimecia's castle anymore, at least that couldn't be it. The stone walls were remarkably different, and the gloomy atmosphere characterizing the Sorceress' lair couldn't be felt in this new place...

They were in a library. Dozens of wooden bookshelves were set along the walls and divided the room in rows. A countless number of books was arranged. Many ladders were set along the bookshelves, that reached the ceiling of the fifteen feet high room. Moreover, the room itself was around fifty yards long and twenty five yards large.

Behind them was a window, surrounded with torches, overlooking the outside world. Squall and Cloud peeped through, and saw a great number of houses upon a rocky plain, around a kind-of weird building: it was a double tetrahedron, one vertex pointing to the ground, the other to the red sky.

"Centra!", Squall said. "We're in Centra, well before the Lunar Cry that destroyed it."

Cloud didn't understand.

"We're back in our place.", Rinoa said. "Hmmm... Not really in fact... we have landed at least a century before our time, because this place was supposed to be in ruins in the... 'present time'. What we call Lunar Cry is the time where the monsters living in the Moon gather in a big mass and go straight down to Earth."

"Monsters coming from the Moon?", Tifa said. "How could this be?"

"I ignore it...", Squall answered doubtfully. "It looks like this place is the 'source of knowledge' our Guardian Force has talked about. But Eden had told us it was impossible to help us, right?"

"Maybe Ultimecia's seal prevented our Guardian Forces to do so.", Rinoa explained. "Do you remember?"

"Yes... you're right.", Squall said.

"In my opinion, Midgar Zolom's fall allowed Eden to contact you anew, Squall. But I'd also say that Barrett, Cid and your comrades have done great, too. I hope they've got out of here alive.", Tifa went on with optimism.

"Yes, I hope it so.", Cloud continued. "We need all possible forces to defeat Ultimecia, once we have this information hidden in the library, if we find it, that is."

"Okay then...", Squall announced. "Let's split up. We're going to browse through this library row after row. Anybody who finds something interesting... no, Angelo... no, please, not now..."

Angelo was running around Squall, looking for a caress. Rinoa burst into laughter.

"Please, Squall, be nice!", she said in a smile.

"All right...". He gave a rapid caress to Angelo who shook his tail and yelped with affection. The dog returned to his mistress, satisfied. Squall went on:

"So I was saying, when one of you finds something interesting, call to make us know what it is."

"Okay.", Tifa confirmed.

"Got it.", Cloud said.

Tifa went along the bookshelf set on the wall, Cloud browsed though the next one, next to the two Squall and Rinoa, still followed by Angelo, had started to inspect. It was hard to do, the bookcases were considerably high. That made so many books to look for a single row... A quarter of an hour later, they all met at the opposite side of the room. .

"So?", Squall asked.

"Nothing of a single interest.", Tifa said. "They're mainly astronomy books, but there's nothing here about magic of about the history of this planet."

"We're wasting time here...", Cloud sighed.

"NO!", Squall categorically retorted. "If there's a single book to be useful to us, we must find it."

"Even if we have to look every nook and cranny?", Cloud replied.

Squall struck his forehead with his palm.

"Yeah yeah, whatever... as you say.", Cloud resumed. "After all, we must keep on searching, because our worlds are at stake, right?"

So they did. Nobody had noticed something odd that was turning up outside the library, at the window behind them...

Squall was relentlessly browsing through the books... when Eden's voice echoed in his mind again.

"_Squall... It's Eden. Please don't say a word_... "

The young SeeD remained silent, but asked himself where his Guardian Force could be.

"_I'm here Squall, outside this library. You should see me now_."

Squall could distinguish Eden's blue beak at the window.

"_The passage I led you through made you travel two thousand years before your time, Squall, and Ultimecia's seal has been in greater part corrupted thanks to you and your fellows' efforts. Even if I cannot retrieve all of my powers right now, I may help you finding answers to your questions, and some answers are actually hidden here in this library. Come back to the beginning of the rows, face the door and go six rows further._"

Squall obeyed. He went to the row the Guardian Force told him, and restarted to browse through the books. In a while, he saw a small book, with no title, lying on the ground. "Could it be this one?", he thought. He opened the book and saw, printed on the first page:

__

CHRONICLES OF HYNE

Hyne... wasn't it the one who had "created" this world, according to the legends? Was it the one who originated this art known as Sorcery? Rinoa had been named "Hyne's descendant" by the Estharians after he saved her in outer space and before her short captivity inside the Sorceress' Memorial... just because of her recently acquired Sorceress powers from Edea...

"Hyne would have written this book?", Squall kept on thinking. "How strange... many people think of Hyne as a God... but if he was one, how could he sign this book? Whatever..."

He leant to a bookcase and started to read...

"_I, Hyne, Prime Sorcerer and World Protector, committed myself to store in the present book the history of this planet, trying to get as close as possible to the truth, allowing the next generations to know exactly all of the events which have marked our land. I am quite proud however, I must say, to know that my memory had 'survived' so many years after this Grand Cataclysm which could have annihilated us all if we hadn't taken some emergency measures on time. I think I must take profit of this opportunity to relate my memories right now, before my overripe age comes to blur all of these souvenirs and all of the knowledge I had acquired from the Ancients, or Cetras. So I will start my chronology by their time, and of course I will base my arguments upon my research works I undertook upon them._

Nobody knows exactly which civilization could have preceded the Cetras, I don't even know myself. On the other hand, their power remained known by all of the earth inhabitants for a very long time: these human beings had the ability to communicate with the Planet and create spiritual energy, used to create life. This energy of the planet, called a long time later 'Mako energy', could easily be seen at a raw state, like a halo of light, or crystallized into what people called 'Materia'..."

Squall froze when he came to the word 'Materia'. His astonishment made him drop the book, and his mind was boiling again... How could Hyne know about these "Materia"? Would this mean that a world existed before Hyne?

He got over his emotions and called:

"Cloud! Tifa! Rinoa! Come on, quickly!"

The three turned up in the alley.

"Tell me, Squall... We weren't supposed to be here, were we?", Cloud asked, doubtfully.

"No, you're right... but Eden helped me.", Squall confessed.

"I see...", Cloud said.

They read the book...

"Who's Hyne?", Cloud asked.

"The one who created our world, according to what people say.", Squall answered.

They went on reading. When they reached the word "materia", Cloud and Tifa had quite like an electroshock...

"So... he's from our world too?", Tifa noticed.

The four people stared wide-eyed at each other.

"Are we really from the same world then?", Rinoa asked.

"There's only one way to check it out...", Squall declared, before reading the book aloud so that the other three could know.

"... _crystallized into what people called 'Materia', as for 'materialization of the energy'. These 'Materias' could be used for general purposes, and also allowed the usage of magic to those who could turn them to good account._

This planet also hosted a race of quadruped animals, half-canine, half-feline, well-known for their legendary rage during their fights, their remarkable intelligence and their longevity, surpassing by very far the human beings'. Nobody knew the real name of their species, but they took an important role in solving the planetary disasters."

"RED XIII!", Cloud shouted.

Squall looked back at him, surprised.

"This orange-furred animal from your team?", he said. "That's bizarre... I wanted to point that out: we also have orange-furred feline creatures. We call them Moombas. They speak like we do, though they can hardly do it..."

"Hmmm... Red XIII talks too. Do you think he could be linked to your creatures?", Tifa asked.

"I'm searching...", Squall asked. He leafed through the book and came to a sketch of a creature looking like Red XIII without tattoos, and next to it, a sketch of a Moomba. Further down was a picture of Eden.

"So this is a Moomba?", Cloud said. "Indeed... it makes me think about Red XIII..."

"How cute it is...", Tifa added.

"I'm starting to understand it all...", Cloud said.

"What?", Rinoa asked.

"Red XIII must have created an offspring after having survived the Meteor. This offspring might have evolved later into Moombas... Does that mean that Meteor is destroyed?"

"How could this be possible...", Tifa said, clinging to Cloud.

"It is... looks like in some way, we succeeded in our crusade against Sephiroth, but your sorceress Ultimecia interfered... this is evident, the Meteor is still here and Sephiroth still alive. I'd really appreciate if I could face her and tell her you-know-what-I-mean..."

Squall said nothing, but was determined, though he didn't know why, to help Cloud and sort Sephiroth out to prevent History from being modified.

"But considering the fat that Sephiroth controls this meteor, if we leave him alive, the Planet from the past... yours... will be destroyed and our Planet will disappear!", Squall exclaimed. "But Ultimecia... she's a sorceress from the _future!_"

"True...", Rinoa nodded. "She just can't leave Sephiroth destroy the Planet in the past, or your present, knowing that such a destruction would be a suicide for her!"

"I think", Cloud advised, "that we should ask her about it, don't you?"

"It's quite unexpected but sensible anyway...", Squall replied.

"By the way...", the young blonde man started.

There was dead silence for a while.

"I wanted to say this before but I couldn't... Well, the voice of your Guardian Force Eden reminded me of a girl we met some time ago, but got killed by Sephiroth before I could do anything to save her. In addition, she was the last Cetra to live on this planet... Now we are almost sure that Tifa, myself and the people of my world are your... ascendants, I'd like to know if Aeris (that was her name) was reincarnated in your time."

Cloud hadn't finished his sentence when Eden's voice sounded in the library.

"You are correct, Cloud... In the beginning, I couldn't believe Barrett, Cid, Tifa and yourself had survived time compression. I didn't expect to see my former comrades fighting by the side of my new possessors. Eden was only my alter ego. Now that Ultimecia's seal is corrupted thanks to all of you, I may revert to my former self."

A flash lighted the room. Eden's silhouette appeared as a huge phantom above their heads, then started shrinking, shortening, until the silhouette turned human. At this time, Cloud and Tifa, dumbfounded, saw a girl standing in front of them, with long dark hair, a long pink dress, a red vest and brown boots. She also had a yellow bracelet on each wrist, and her green eyes were watching Cloud and Tifa. She was smiling...

"No... is that you?", Tifa almost whispered.

Cloud couldn't hold his tears back anymore. He ran to Aeris, screaming her name, followed by Tifa, and the three hugged themselves so tightly that they nearly suffocated.

"How... how could you...?", Cloud stammered. "Se... Sephiroth..."

"Yes, I know it, Cloud.", Aeris said in a soft and reassuring voice. "But Sephiroth didn't know that his action would let me join the Lifestream to control it. This is why I stayed at this sub-aquatic altar where you found me, I needed a response from the Planet... Sephiroth just came a bit too late."

"I should have done something before he could...", Cloud went on, as his eyes were still flooded with tears. "I could never forgive myself!..."

"No, Cloud. This isn't your fault. You couldn't predict I was about to leave this world. Know this: even if my body remained idle, my spirit is still here. I had learned that the Planet was about to help us."

"But... how did you know...", Tifa asked.

Aeris laughed.

"I was watching you at this time. I was with you, when you came to know that my White Materia was activated, when you got down the Northern Cave, until you battled against Sephiroth... I was waiting impatiently for you to come, because there was no room for him and myself in the core of the Planet. Unless Sephiroth is killed, the Planet won't be able to react against the Meteor."

"I understand...", Cloud said, as he dried his tears.

Squall and Rinoa were watching the scene with attention, when Aeris came to them.

"Thank you, Squall and Rinoa. I guess I couldn't have met my ancient friends again without you."

"Erm... Thanks for the information too, Eden... sorry... Aeris.", Squall answered, hesitating.

"It doesn't matter.", the girl continued.

"I'd like to ask you a question... How come this world you knew had become the world as Rinoa and I know it?", Squall asked.

"Now _this_ is a long story... Hyne must have stored it in his Chronicles, surely... but it would take some time to read... About a thousand years after Sephiroth's menace, a new Meteor appeared. The peoples were in extreme panic but a group of researchers managed to find old Cetra writings prophesising the coming of this threat and a way to protect the Planet from it. These researchers finally deciphered the writings. Hyne was their leader."

"And then?", Rinoa asked.

"All the materias of the entire world had to be gathered. It was hard to do but Hyne succeeded. With this materia stock, all the living beings headed to Mideel, near this crater where Lifestream was spurting out. However, in order to make the Planet react, someone had to fall into the crater. Nobody wanted to do so, so Hyne sacrificed himself. I watched him falling down to the heart of the Planet, learning the knowledge and powers of the Cetra every second."

"So Hyne wanted to do what Sephiroth plans to do...", Tifa said. "Becoming one with the Planet."

"Yes, but I knew him and Sephiroth had very different intentions. He was a generous and honest man, he really wanted to save the world, and not destroying it. So I accepted to collaborate with him. Together, we gathered all of the spiritual energy of all the human and living beings and of all the materias in Mideel. I also remember seeing Red XIII's descendants coming at the last minute to give us help. Even Red XIII himself was here! He was almost a thousand years old but his mind was still strong... Then this new Meteor came closer to the Planet's surface. Hyne and I created a protective screen to block the Meteor, but this didn't suffice. So we tried to absorb some of the energy inside the Moon, and we did it. As a result of this, our satellite went closer to the Planet's surface. Moreover, a group of monsters that were lurking in the site got hurled by the energy field to the Moon's surface."

"This is the reason why the Moon is inhabited by monsters...", Squall added.

"Yes," Aeris went on, "but from this moment, and for millennia after, the Planet's surface had no life. All the gathered energy struck the Meteor and made it disintegrate as it touched the land. Nevertheless, the shock was so violent that all the lands started to shake, creating consequently a new world, this world you, Squall, Rinoa and all of your SeeD team live in. Moreover, the energy concentration was such that at the end of the Cataclysm, millennia later, the brave four-pawed fighters descending from Red XIII started to have strange mutations... Some of them even had taken an humanoid aspect."

"So the Moombas and Shumis existed from this moment on.", Rinoa deduced.

"As for Hyne and myself, we reappeared with all the other human beings in a continent we named 'Centra'. He took his human appearance, and I was reincarnated as a spirit that Hyne named Eden. The other spirits that were contained in Materias were freed by Hyne, thus turning into the Guardian Forces you know. Then at last, the other Materias scattered their energy throughout the new world..."

"Magic draw points...", Squall thought.

Aeris paused for a while, and went on:

"Well... I think you know it all now."

"If it's true," Squall said, "we must now return where and when we were in the Castle."

"I know it, Squall. But I have a 'nice present' to give you first, the dog may have some of it too. Give me your hands..."

Cloud hurried to hold out his hand to Aeris. Tifa and Rinoa did so right after. Squall hesitated, but as he saw Angelo was about to put his paw, he decided to hold out his hand too. Aeris put her hands above them all and concentrated. A green aura wrapped the team for a few seconds before vanishing. The four fighters could feel a new force flowing into their bodies, an energy they didn't have before.

"Wow!", Cloud exclaimed.

"I'm feeling weird...", Squall remarked.

"I've never felt as good in my entire life...", Rinoa commented.

"What was your present, Aeris?", Tifa asked.

"I gifted you with a part of my powers that I acquired when I was wandering in the Lifestream." Aeris answered in a smile. "I'm sure this will help you, but since Ultimecia's seal isn't completely broken, you will have to defeat her last servant before being able to use your hidden powers."

"Just one minion to go?", Cloud questioned.

"Yes. Your friends really showed their best, and I know you'll make your way to Ultimecia and finally allow time to flow properly. Cloud, don't worry to give them my best wishes."

"I promise.", Cloud accepted.

"The corridor at the back of the library has a space-time breach that will bring you back to Ultimecia's tower, on the top of one of the towers. Get ready for a fight. Good luck to all of you.", Aeris told them.

As the others were leaving, Cloud remained still.

"What's wrong, Cloud?", Aeris asked, worried.

"It seems to me that... I'm about to lose you again.", the swordsman confessed.

"Come on, Cloud... Please, don't be worried about this. I will always be with you, never forget that. Never lose hope. You know, I prefer seeing you happy with Tifa than knowing you as a sad and lonely man."

Tifa stood there, gaping. She came closer to Cloud. Aeris hugged them both and finished:

"Goodbye now, and good luck..."

The girl's body turned transparent, then evaporated.

Tifa could hardly speak. Her eyes were full of tears...

"So...", she stammered, "she was... doing this... because she wanted us... to be happy together..."

"This is what I always believed, Tifa...", Cloud replied.

"How foolish I was...", she continued. "I was almost jealous of her... just because I saw you both together in the Slums!... But... as I realized you wanted to save me from Corneo... I didn't know what to think afterwards..."

"Tifa...", Cloud whispered before hugging her.

"Forget about this.", he went on. "We have more important things to do. Let's follow Squall and get out of here. If we make it alive, I'll take all the time you need to comfort you."

So the two left the room, with Squall, Rinoa and Angel, then brutally vanished in the corridor. Thy had just reached the space-time breach.

****

Author's note : we will never forget you, Aeris. You will always find a place in our heart...

Well... I have to confess that I found myself crying as I pictured Cloud, Tifa and Aeris meeting each other, and to add some more, I had Aeris' theme being played as I was about to type the reunion sequence... ::dries his tears::

Another piece of (sad?) news: next instalment will be the last. Last, but not least! The final showdown will soon arrive, so stay tuned for more! Oh, by the way, the saviour VS failure thing is taken from a Resident Evil quote, by Chris, taunting Wesker as he watches the Tyrant: "You think this failure is your saviour?".

Greetz time!

Veemongal a.k.a. Nips: Yeah, the big shoes were important for me to put in the FF7 character descriptions. Have you seen Barrett's? 'Jumbo' would be more suitable than 'big', don't you think? As for the word repetitions... keep in mind that I'm not English, and it's hard for me to write the whole thing in French first and translate it in English after without making too many mistakes. I must confess that since I focused too much on mistakes, I didn't take the repetitions into account. I hope this doesn't disturb you too much though... after all you seem to enjoy it, right? That's the most important...

Nefas-san: nice review! I checked other fanfics before writing mine. Some of them mention spell names and even weapon names. Even FF8 contains FMV's of Edea and SeeD students casting spells... so I thought it would be a good idea to put the attack moves and spells used in the battle descriptions. Of course I didn't make the unforgivable mistake to talk in HP's or MP's!

Lady Aliena, Rosa Heartlily, Steven, Chaos Syko a.k.a. Mauka IceFire: thank you very much for following and supporting, I really need this!

Ghouly Goul, Angelmae-CD: cool! New readers! Thanks for reading... Goul, you surprise me! Frankly, I never thought people could call my story as one of the BEST crossovers. Angelmae-CD, I'll email you when the last instalment is ready, I promise! ;-)

Have my best friendly feelings from me,

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	12. The Extreme

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : Almost everything here belongs to Squaresoft. That's all.

-~-

****

CHAPTER 12

THE EXTREME

-~-

"The Lifestream... The energy of the Planet...", Squall wondered. "You're fighting in order to protect this, aren't you?"

"Yeah... As long as Sephiroth exists we will keep on fighting.", Cloud replied, more than ever determined. "We have to do it for us, for Aeris, and the rest of the world..."

"I'm afraid your fight will end along with your miserable lives, Cloud!", a voice came from nowhere...

The four fighters took a look around them. They had been through a space-time breach from the library to return to Ultimecia's Castle again. "At last, we're back...", Squall thought. They were at the clock tower, near the clock, still stopped, and its monster statues with threatening looks. They had landed upon a square stone platform. One of the walls of the tower were on their right, the other sides of the platform were leading to the void. An opening was carved through this wall, and Cloud's arch-enemy had appeared, once more, in this opening.

"Sephiroth...", Cloud growled. The swordsman was trying to contain his rage as well as he could.

The black-caped man was giving a sharp look and a provocative smile to the team. His hand was clinging to the hilt of his long sword.

"You can't escape your fate, Cloud.", Sephiroth continued. "You can't even save your own friends, how could you save your own life?"

"Aeris...", Cloud muttered. The girl's speech was still echoing in his head: "No, Cloud. This isn't your fault. You couldn't predict I was about to leave this world...". "This isn't my fault... This isn't my fault...", he went on repeating to himself.

"No... it's pointless to talk about it now, Sephiroth.", he retorted, drawing his sword. "I'm no longer feeling guilty now. Aeris did what she had to do, and it's up to us to finish the work she had started!"

"Really? You surprise me again, Cloud...", Sephiroth went on, taunting. "I didn't think a puppet like you could have such a will and such initiative..."

"Ignore him, Cloud. Whatever happens, I'll always believe in you.", Tifa said to him.

"Listen...", Squall broke in, with his same usual coldness in his voice. "I don't know who you exactly are, but if Ultimecia has indeed hired you to kill us, know that you won't take us over with words."

"So SeeDs are getting angry too... Besides I still don't understand why you had to interfere in the business between Ultimecia and myself...", Sephiroth continued.

"Better say that for yourself!", Rinoa countered, angry. "Ultimecia is our enemy, and do you really imagine she will achieve her time compression without anybody doing anything against it?"

"You might not be able to do anything soon, girl...", Sephiroth said. "Before leaving you, let me introduce my new friend. It's one of those spirit entities you call Guardian Forces, aren't I mistaken? Ultimecia had kept him especially for me. Tiamat ! This way!"

Sephiroth disappeared into the opening, inside the tower. A rustling of wings could be heard a second after. A dragon-like creature, almost exactly resembling Guardian Force Bahamut had turned up. However, his body colours differed from the legendary dragon Squall and his mates had successfully befriended in the upper level of Deep Sea Research Facility.

"Tiamat... the last barrier before the finale.", Cloud firmly said. "He won't be the one to stop us... Sephiroth, prepare to live your last hours!"

He ran to the dragon to slash his left wing with his sword. Tiamat only had a scratch, but the dragon plunged towards the swordsman, who just had time to crouch and dodge the claw swing. Squall took the opportunity to strike Tiamat in the body. The dragon was a bit rocked by the blowing explosion of the Gunblade, but quickly regained balance before declaring:

"I expected more from you, warriors. Are you planning to take me down with this?"

"And how about _this_, then?", Rinoa said as she sent a Blizzaga.

__

This seemed to be efficient. Tiamat could hardly resist against cold. Nevertheless he recovered from it and dived to Rinoa. Squall panicked and stood between Rinoa and the dragon, to take a serious claw swipe before falling down. Tifa got scratched too, but Cloud counter-attacked with his sword to hit the dragon's tail, which knocked him down two seconds later. The swordsman had no problem to stand back up and protected his friends with a Wall-All.

Rinoa had an idea:

"Squall... try to hold your Gunblade straight, I'm about to try something..."

The SeeD got up and brandished his weapon vertically. Rinoa concentrated, put her hands upon the back of the blue-shaded blade and cast a Blizzaga. Squall felt a chilling wave inside his body, but it didn't matter for him. He saw his blade crystallizing itself, like ice. As he understood what Rinoa intended to do, he rushed to the dragon and twirled his Gunblade across the creature's body. Hundreds of ice particles, sharp as razor blades, burst from the blade and shattered the monster when the SeeD pulled the trigger of his Gunblade. Tiamat gave out a hoarse roar and got hit by Cloud, then by Tifa, but promptly straightened up and nastily clawed the two swordsmen. Cloud and Squall could see their opponent gathering a mass of energy in his mouth.

"Just like Bahamut did...", Squall thought, observing the orange energy ball getting bigger and bigger. He shouted at his team mates: "LAY DOWN!"

So the four people did. The energy ball turned from orange to blue before the dragon spat it and made it explode at the four fighters with a deafening noise.

Squall, Rinoa, Cloud and Tifa were heavily wounded by Tiamat's Dark Flare.

"We're done for...", Cloud muttered.

"No!", Squall said. "It's not over. We will call for one of our Guardian Forces to gain some time."

Squall got up. Tiamat frowned, apparently looking surprised by the words "Guardian Force".

"Bahamut!", Squall shouted. "Come to our rescue!"

"How dare you...!", Tiamat retorted, looking appalled. "How dare you saying the name!"

Squall didn't listen. He fell again on the ground because the summoning had drained his strength, but he could at least watch the materialization of the legendary Bahamut.

"Twins?", Tifa said.

"Not really...", Rinoa precised. She was correct. At first sight, Bahamut and Tiamat looked like each other, but Bahamut's body was less dark than his opponent's. Bahamut watched him for a while, then turned to the four exhausted fighters.

"We have a common enemy, Master.", Bahamut roared.

"'Master'?", Tiamat mocked. "So you fell lower than I thought... I've been longing to see you again. How could you call 'Masters' such weaklings?"

"I'll force you to talk about them with respect!", Bahamut roared. "Master, you and your companions shall leave this place. Let me take care of my rival during your recovery."

"All right.", Squall nodded, before limping to the clock tower, followed by his friends.

Bahamut and Tiamat stared at each other then started to fight, with more roars.

Angelo was inside the tower. The dog gave a plaintive yap as he saw her mistress in such a dreadful state.

"I guess we need help from the others.", Squall announced, leaning against a wall.

"Yeah, but don't count on me to search for them...", Cloud replied dryly. "This monster showed no mercy when he spat his fireball."

"How about Angelo then? He can do it very well!", Rinoa suggested. "Right, Angelo?"

The dog answered with a brief barking.

"Hold on...", Squall said, pointing his hand to the pet. "Haste!". Angelo started to emit bright rays of light.

"Now go and fetch our friends, Angelo. Fetch them!", Rinoa encouraged.

The dog ran with incredible speed down the spiral passage leading to the bottom of the tower.

"We only have to wait and hope our companions will come quickly...", Rinoa sighed, while the battle between the two dragons was raging higher.

~~

In no less than a minute, Angelo, faster and braver than ever, arrived at the bottom of the tower. He crossed a small wooden bridge, overlooking the moat in which Irvine had found the key to the arsenal, then went downstairs to the chapel. Its gate was still open. Angelo ran as fast as his paws could carry him, outside to the fountain, then started to sniff the ground. After a minute spent on searching, the dog hurried to the ramparts on the right side, where Irvine, Selphie and Barrett still were. Barrett was surprised to see the dog turning in so fast.

"Hey, what...", the juggernaut said and got interrupted by some brief yaps.

Angelo was running and barking around the group in excitation, and almost made Selphie trip and fall.

"Hey, calm down Angelo! What's the matter?", Selphie said.

Angelo went down the stairs and barked again, then headed to the chapel's entrance.

"Maybe he wants to lead us somewhere...", Irvine supposed, adjusting the brim of his hat.

"Let's go then!", Barrett said.

Angelo led them to the base of the tower, then went inside of it again.

"A staircase to climb again? That's too much this time...", Barrett growled.

"Hey, Barrett! Look up!", Selphie shrieked.

The three saw explosions resulting from the fight between the two dragons at the top of the tower. Barrett realized the emergency of the situation.

"Rinoa has sent this dog to look for help... Cloud and Squall must be in danger!", he shouted before hurrying to the spiral pass, followed by Irvine and Selphie.

Once they reached the heights of the platform (Selphie had cast some Hastes on the team in the mean time), Cloud, still weak, greeted them. Angelo had came back near Rinoa, who had given him a bone-shaped dog biscuit as a reward.

"Glad to see you again... we've got trouble with Ultimecia's last servant."

"What kind of trouble?", Barrett questioned.

"Check it by yourselves...", Squall answered, showing them the exit to the platform.

Barrett, Irvine and Selphie were thunderstruck as they saw the two dragons fighting.

"Bahamut versus his rival Tiamat... I summoned Bahamut to gain some time, I'm going to call him back so that you could hit the right dragon."

"Right.", Barrett said.

Squall limped outside, and shouted as loud as he could:

"Bahamut! Come back!"

"What do you mean, come back?", Tiamat roared, surprised to see his opponent obeying to Squall's orders to the letter. "We haven't finished yet!"

Tiamat was speaking a bit too much. He couldn't see the three friends turning up on the platform and perform very explosive and devastating attacks. Selphie started it up with a Blizzaga, Irvine shot around fifty Fast Bullets, and Barrett finished with a burst of AP Bullets especially made for his machinegun. The dragon tottered and landed on the platform, but lifted his head up.

"It's up to you now, Bahamut.", Squall announced. "Show them your Mega Flare!"

"Right, Master!", the dragon proudly replied, before gathering a energy ball in his mouth, turning bigger and bigger and glowing. The fighters hid their eyes...

The Mega Flare landed upon Tiamat and banged. The dragon could be heard groaning and howling... When the explosion ended, Tiamat was nothing but a pile of black ashes. Bahamut gave a victorious roar before he vanished.

"The twelve are no more...", Squall told the other people. "Ultimecia's seal is completely broken by now."

"Woohoo! We won against the twelve!", Selphie said.

"Wow man, that was a damn cool explosion!", a voice said.

Cid was on the platform, smoking a cigarette, with Quistis and Zell by his side.

"Cid? How did you find us here?", Squall asked.

"I know, we were supposed to meet each other near the fountain but when we saw this dragon on the top of the tower, we decided to follow Barrett's group and this dog.", Cid said.

"I was wondering how Rinoa had taught her pet, now...", Barrett went on, caressing Angelo. "I have my answers..."

"Tell me Barrett... you were really in a hurry to go up this tower.", Irvine told the machine-gunner.

"This is normal.", the juggernaut answered. "Squall and Cloud saved our lives in this cursed cell, haven't you forgotten? I really had to help them back..."

"He's absolutely right.", Squall thought before he thanked Barrett.

"Yeah, you're welcome", the machine-gunner went on, "but I think we have to thank the dog and Bahamut too. They've been very helpful, haven't they?"

~~

After passing through the machinery of the Citadel big clock, the ten fighters and Angelo found themselves in the famous passageway linking the two towers. The Imps and Blue Dragons statues decorating this passage seemed less threatening from a closer distance. The corridor was about 200 yards long and was towering above the entire Citadel. The infinitely dark ocean, dark as the sky, could also be seen from this point. On the opposite side, the group noticed the one and only entrance to the right-side tower, a double door at the end of the corridor.

"What should we do now?", Squall asked. "Should we go there right now?"

"No...", Cloud refused. "We must recover. Tiamat showed us no mercy, remember?"

"It was just a suggestion.", Squall went on.

"In fact, I wouldn't appreciate to fight Ultimecia right now... I'd like a little rest, just to regain confidence before the final battle.", Rinoa said.

"Yeah, me too!", Selphie added.

"It's my opinion too.", Tifa said. "I'm sure Sephiroth is in there too."

"Don't think I chicken out...", Cid finally said, "Honestly, I need some rest too."

The other team members approved in turn.

"Good.", Squall went on. "Rendezvous is given on this threshold."

The team mates parted, leaving Squall and Rinoa (and Angelo) alone.

"Rinoa...", Squall started. "I'm feeling weird..."

"Really?", she said in a smile.

"Seriously... It's been like this since we explored this library."

"I see... you must be talking about this half-human, half-Guardian Force girl... Cloud and Tifa's former friend, right?"

"Yeah, I think so...", Squall replied. "This very moment where Cloud and Tifa rushed towards her..."

"Don't worry about this, it's normal.", Rinoa went on. "Everybody's got the right to have emotions... And... how could I explain this... this moment... it reminded me of the Sorceress Memorial, when you came to save me..."

Squall was remembering this moment too... he had just slashed, with a swing of his Gunblade, the pipe system of the anti-magic prison in which Rinoa was imprisoned, and a few seconds later, Rinoa had thrown herself in his arms. This moment had become unforgettable for him.

"Me too.", he said, hesitating.

Rinoa laughed.

"Come on, you don't have to be ashamed about this!"

"If you say so...", Squall thought.

"Moreover...", she went on. "thanks to you and the others, I will finally meet Ultimecia, face to face. A Sorceress versus Sorceress fight... We will win, I'm sure about this..."

"Why?"

"Because... I'm trusting you.", she said, almost in a whisper.

"Her survival depends on me...", he said to himself.

"You're right...", he replied.

"How about Sephiroth?", Rinoa asked, worried. "He's a bit scary... I thought I was facing Adel when I saw him..."

"Cloud and his friends will take care of him, and we will help them if they're not up to it. Now, let's have a rest.", Squall finished, as he took Rinoa's hand.

~~

In the mean time, Cloud and Tifa were observing the horizon from the clock tower.

"You know Tifa... what I find awesome is being still alive after all that happened to us..."

"I know what you mean.", Tifa answered.

"But I'm shocked because..." the ex-Soldier continued, "because I couldn't take Sephiroth down when he was right in front of us..."

"Calm down, Cloud...", Tifa interrupted. "We will soon have another opportunity to take revenge. I also want to make him suffer. I will never forget the great fire he started in Nibelheim..."

Tifa looked at the sky.

"This darkness... it looks like Midgar.", she went on. "I'm eager to get out of this place and return home..."

"Home? Where? Nibelheim doesn't welcome us anymore."

"I mean: in our time..."

"I know what you mean, but where exactly do you want to go? What place do you think we could call 'home'?"

Tifa lowered her eyes.

"I don't know... but Rinoa told me not to lose hope. Maybe one day, we will find our 'Promised Land'."

"She really said this?"

"Yeah... exactly what Aeris was saying."

"A coincidence, for sure...", Cloud said at last.

A moment later, the swordsman continued:

"Nevertheless, I'm worried about them..."

"Who?"

"Squall and Rinoa. I hope they will be able to get home once this time compression will have ceased."

"I hope it too.", Tifa said. "We have to help them till the end. We four really make an awesome team!"

"Yeah... I do agree.", Cloud said. "We will vanquish Ultimecia and Sephiroth together."

~~

Later...

"Tifa, are you ready?"

"Yes, Cloud. Let's go now."

The two headed to the corridor linking the towers. The rest of the team was assembled near the double door.

"Right..." Squall started to say, as Cloud came by his side. "Now, it's Ultimecia and Sephiroth. Are you _all_ ready?"

"Yes.", Cloud and Tifa answered.

"Yes.", Rinoa answered.

"Always ready!", Zell replied, giving punches in the air.

"Ready!", Irvine and Barrett said, pointing their fire weapons upwards.

"Booyaka!", Selphie answered.

"Ready!", Quistis confirmed, gripping her whip.

"Ready!", Cid replied, throwing his cigarette away with a flick.

Cloud and Squall opened the double door and the entire team went inside...

All of them arrived, not in a room as they thought they were going to, but outside. The infinite darkness was replaced by the daylight, even the white and cloudy sky could be seen. Many walls and stone pillars were delimiting this zone, forming a round shape. A second series of columns, higher than the outer one, was supporting a big stone ring. Then, at the centre of this circular structure was a pedestal, upon which were planted four torches, set around a red throne. On this throne... a woman wearing a sort of red robe with a black fur collar. Her body and face were striped of blue and purple. Her long white hair were done like horns, and two black wings were spreading from her back.

Ultimecia in person!

She stared at the team with disgust.

"SeeD...", she said.

Nobody reacted.

"SeeD... SeeD...", Ultimecia went on with more and more anger.

The ten fighters didn't say a word. Angelo came closer to Rinoa. Squall could hardly contain his excitement. He was hanging on to the grip of his Gunblade.

"SeeD, SeeD, SEED!", Ultimecia shouted. "Kurse all SeeDs... Kurse ALL of you! The world was on the brink of this ever-elusive 'time compression'. But your vain krusade ends here!"

"I'm afraid it will not, Sorceress.", Rinoa broke in with a determined tone.

"As long as we're alive, we will not abandon.", Cloud went on, resolute to terminate anyone who could gain Sephiroth's favours to destroy the world.

"You will certainly not live that long", Ultimecia continued, threatening. "But I do accept to answer this question that concerns you..."

"Why do you let Sephiroth destroy this world since you are coming from the future? Our existence will be out, but yours too!", Squall replied.

"You're totally wrong on this point, insignificant people. I am not from your future as you may have thought, I have been sent there by force.", the Sorceress yelled. "Those infamous Cetras had kondemned me before they started to look after the one with who I was planning to rule this world... JENOVA!"

"No... that's impossible!", Cloud said, almost speechless. "Jenova... Sephiroth's so-called mother..."

"Jenova had been killed after my exile but as I started the time compression, I realized that her spirit had survived in some way. This is how Sephiroth came by my side. But you had to meddle!"

"So you limited yourself to continue the project that was interrupted by the Cetras...", Squall sighed. "How pathetic..."

"I'll teach you not to be insolent with me!", Ultimecia raged. "You will be my slaves for eternity... even together, you have no chance to defeat me!"

Ultimecia raised from her throne and landed at the bottom of the central pillar, spreading her wings. 

"Sephiroth!", she called.

The black-caped man came from the nothingness and marched to the Sorceress, pointing his long sword to the group.

"Take this, puppet!", he shouted as he ran to Cloud to give him the first blow. The swordsman blocked the blade with his Ultima Weapon and faced Sephiroth's staring look.

Ultimecia noticed Cloud was defending himself with fervour and cast a Blizzaga upon the young blonde man. Cloud collapsed.

"Damn! I'm too cold...", he shouted.

Ultimecia focused all her attention upon the ex-Soldier, but it was a mistake. She couldn't see Quistis attacking her with her whip. Sephiroth wanted to retaliate, but Barrett prevented him to do so with a burst of his machinegun. The Sorceress calmed the juggernaut down with a Thundaga. Barrett got struck by the electroshock and remained still. So Angelo ran towards Ultimecia and bit her right leg.

"Ouch... will you let go off me, you stupid animal?", she raged before sending Angelo to the other side of the room with a Firaga. Her spell wasn't finished to be cast when a bright Holy went through her body. Rinoa, who had called for that spell, was remaining in front of her, with her hand tightly extended.

"That's what you get for saying Angelo is stupid.", she thought.

Squall was battling with Sephiroth. The SeeD was doing everything he could to prevent Sephiroth to reach Cloud. He knew that the man in black didn't have the same fighting style as his archrival Seifer. Nevertheless he was more experienced: Squall could hardly divert his endless succession of sword slashes. Suddenly, Zell and Tifa, who had stayed behind since the start of the battle, struck Sephiroth from each side.

"Thank you.", Cloud declared as he got up. "Regen has taken effect upon me. I'm taking over."

Squall gave his place to him and decided to assist Rinoa who was exchanging many various spells with Ultimecia. The battle between the two Sorceresses had turned the room into a series of fireworks. The Fires, Blizzards and Thunders were following one another with a dreadful noise.

"Much too basic art...", Squall thought. "...but I can cast spells as well."

He raised his hand to the Sorceress and declaimed: "Flare!". The spell was more powerful than usual. The orange flare wrapped Ultimecia.

"You miserable...", she started before a critical Gunblade blow interrupted her.

Zell forgot about his fists as he noticed the fighters were using magic to one another, so he used a Quake to help his team mates. A violent shake later, Quistis went on with a Bio. Big green and toxic bubbles surrounded Ultimecia and poisoned her, but the Sorceress recovered quickly with an Esuna, before she countered with Gravija. The ten fighters got trapped in a contracting and dilating gravity field. All of them were knocked down except Cloud, still facing Sephiroth. The swordsman abandoned his fight against his arch-enemy.

"Cloud..." Aeris' voice sounded in his head. "Cloud, use your new powers!"

He could feel this energy boiling inside of him. An energy that wasn't that intense while they were battling against Tiamat, but was growing in power as his duel against Sephiroth raged higher and higher. Cloud closed his eyes and shouted: "Total Regen!"

Many strands of energy emerged from Cloud, went across the room and penetrated the fighters' bodies. In a moment, the entire squad got restored.

"No... that's impossible!", Ultimecia yelled.

Sephiroth didn't say anything, but his look couldn't hide his amazement.

"And now, Sorceress...", Rinoa said in a low voice, heading to Squall as he raised his Gunblade.

"You too, Cloud.", she said to the other swordsman.

Cloud joined the girl. She put each hand on one of their blades and cast some of her magic powers upon them. The Gunblade, then the Ultima Weapon turned from white to light green. The two swordsmen rushed with an incredible speed to their enemies, Squall to Ultimecia, Cloud to Sephiroth, and struck them as hard as they could with their weapons. Ultimecia and Sephiroth were then caught in the emerald green flare of an Ultima spell! The entire room shook because of the double spell. Rinoa was sitting on the ground. Summoning the two Ultima had drained her forces, but not her determination. She stayed there, sitting, giving a challenging look to the one that had formerly bewitched her. As for Sephiroth and Ultimecia, none of them both could stand. The man in black was the first one to fall down after saying to Cloud: "Really outstanding...". Sephiroth vaporized immediately after. However, Ultimecia got back up and began to float in the air, with her black wings still outstretched.

"I'm able to summon the supreme creature... the creature from your nightmares...", she declared. "The most powerful Guardian Force... You shall... SUFFER!".

After a demented laugh, Ultimecia disappeared too. The ground quaked. The walls, the columns and the pillars shattered as a gaping crack opened near the fighter's feet. A nightmare creature, just as Ultimecia had mentioned, emerged from the crack, while the entire castle disappeared. The ten people were now upon a big piece of rock, floating in the void, with this creature in front of them. This monster was a purple-coloured humanoid with a lion's head, a white mane, red horns, a long tail and white wings. As he saw this creature, Squall grabbed his lion-head-shaped medallion.

"Griever!", he thought.

"Hey, Cloud!", Barrett said. "I'm really feeling on form thanks to your trick. How did you do that?"

"I promise you to explain if we make it back alive.", Cloud answered. Indeed it wasn't the appropriate moment to explain this. Time, even compressed, was playing against them all. They had to act quickly and find a way to defeat this... animal.

"Okay!", Barrett approved. "I'm taking care of it. Selphie, Quistis, Irvine and Cid, come with me!"

The gigantic man started the first assault with Irvine and hit Griever in his left arm, but the Guardian Force used his right arm to claw at the sniper who rocked for a while before collapsing. Selphie, horror-struck, electrified the monster with a successful Thundaga, then ran to her friend to give him a healing spell. Cid dodged another claw swipe and leaped high enough in the air to hit the creature's body. Griever roared, but retaliated soon after. Quistis sacrificed herself to take the claw scratch.

"Hey, Quistis!", Cid said in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, everything's okay. We should help each other after all, shouldn't we?", the SeeD instructor replied. She could bear the scratch, but Cid was right: Quistis' eyes were turning white.

"Seriously, Quistis. Something's wrong with you..."

He quickly realized what it was all about. Quistis turned to Griever and cast a Laser Eye that pierced their opponent's body.

"Selphie, try your wind blows!", Barrett suggested. So the girl did immediately. A Tornado wrapped the Guardian Force, totally confused by the wind. Satisfied by the result, Barrett and Irvine reloaded their weapons with Air Ammo and caused a real hurricane as they shot their bullets. Selphie was almost blown away by the wind but was caught right on time by Cid et Quistis. Griever, raving mad, knocked the two gunners out with his claws. This attack made Cid raving mad as well. The spearman grabbed his spear like a pole and vaulted so high in the air that he went over the Guardian Force's head. He dropped some dynamite that exploded upon Griever's face and blew him to the ground, then Cid landed, planting his spear as deep as he could into the monster's chest. Griever yelled and writhed in pain.

"At last... we made it!", Cid declared once he landed, rubbing his forehead.

He was speaking too much. The monster recovered, spread his wings again and hovered above the group.

"Damn it!", Barrett roared, hitting the ground with his fist.

Ultimecia's voice resumed:

"It is not over... Allow me to show you... The true power of the Guardian Force. Griever, make them bleed! Shockwave Pulsar!"

Hearing the words, Quistis went into a trance. Squall rushed to her.

"Quistis! Answer me!", Cid shouted in panic.

She didn't answer. She was floating in the air and let herself get wrapped into a sphere that brought her higher into the sky. The SeeD instructor found herself in the heart of the Pulsar. She stiffened and yelled:

"COUNTERSPACE!"

She had activated the counter Blue Magic she had learned in the cellar some time ago. A huge black sphere, which size almost looked like Diablos' gravity balls, took form around the Pulsar and made it shrink more and more. However, Quistis didn't change in size. The sphere became smaller and smaller. Quistis went out of the Pulsar, still floating in the air but slowly went down to face the monster. The black sphere had the size of a materia and could be held in her hand. The SeeD instructor hurled it as fast as she could upon Griever before she fell back to the ground. When the sphere hit the monster, it dilated and the Pulsar took his original shape, imprisoning Griever within it! Then the Pulsar flared up. The bright light caused by the remarkable disintegration almost blinded the ten fighters. As it ceased, they saw their opponent writhing in pain, roaring, wriggling, flaring and losing white feathers from his wings. Griever emanated a green smoke from his mouth and shrivelled into a black ball too. Ultimecia's voice resumed after this.

"Griever! Let's junction."

"That is impossible...", a deep voice growled. "Counterspace has exhausted my strength. You haven't foreseen such an attack, have you?"

"Griever! It's an order!"

"I refuse to do it. Our ethereal links have been corrupted by the explosion. I must unfortunately leave this... 'enslavement' you forced me in for years and years."

"How could...!", Ultimecia wanted to say. But the Guardian Force stopped her.

"Exactly. I was waiting impatiently for someone to learn the Counterspace magic to free myself from your grasp, Ultimecia. My long waiting time has been rewarded. Now, do not rely upon me anymore."

Griever took a more thankful voice.

"Thanks to all of you, warriors, and especially to you, Quistis."

The black sphere vanished in a flash. Ultimecia went on speaking.

"Kursed warriors! If you want it like this... I'm going to junction... to Sephiroth!"

Two entities appeared, one was shining, the other one was pure darkness. The two bodies were about to make contact, emitting an electric field as they came closer to each other. Then they melted and became one. The resulting entity expanded and gradually transformed into an unimaginable creature... except for Cloud's team.

"Sephiroth as we met him when time compression started...", the swordsman declared. "But it seems Ultimecia's been added on..."

He wasn't wrong about this. Sephiroth had taken a fearful form: his body had doubled in volume, one of his arms had become a huge wing, and his legs had disappeared. In place of the legs were four dangling tentacles, making him floating in the air. Moreover, Ultimecia's head was embedded into his torso.

"That's horrible!", Rinoa said.

The SeeDs were thinking so, as they watched this new thing with apprehension. Barrett, on the other hand, wasn't surprised.

"I'm not impressed by this gizmo... Irvine, this way!", the juggernaut shouted at Irvine.

The sharpshooter regained his confidence and the two gunners were the first ones to hit, with a hundred Fast Bullets. Sephiroth's wing nearly lost all of its feathers because of the burst. He raised higher in the air. 

"Damn! He's impossible to reach!", Zell complained.

"We still have magic.", Quistis said and cast Ultra Waves. Her cerebral waves hit the two enemies. Ultimecia retorted with a Tornado. The ten got wrapped into the eye of the cyclone and hardly landed on the flying rock. Then an avalanche of spells took place. Cloud was spending his time to protect the team with Walls and other healing spells. Squall and Zell were calling for their Thundagas, Firagas and Blizzagas, while Rinoa and Selphie, more experienced in magic, were relentlessly summoning Flares and Tornadoes. On the other hand, Ultimecia was attacking with Quakes, and Sephiroth with Bios, quickly cured by Tifa as she was retaliating with her best Fire spells. Barrett and Irvine were shooting all of their remaining AP Bullets. Cid showed his skilfulness and dexterity as he successfully planted his spear into Sephiroth's body, at the very time he was diving back towards the team. As for Quistis, she had trouble with her Blue Magics since she summoned her Counterspace. She was tired because of the very powerful spell and was hardly standing. She could at least cast some Laser Eyes, hitting Ultimecia's face head on. The two enemies were resisting. Both Sephiroth and Ultimecia were watching over the group with hatred. Both of them had a machiavellian smile.

"Shadow Flare!", they said in unison.

"Uh oh...", Cid muttered.

A white light came upon the group. In a moment, dark magic bolts sledge-hammered the whole team. Quistis couldn't take anymore and fainted. Selphie succumbed too. Despite his wounds, Irvine went totally berserk as he saw that.

"SELPHIE!", he bellowed. He pointed his gun to Sephiroth. Barrett, raging too, reloaded his machinegun quickly. Two energy balls were growing at the extremity of their guns. Five seconds later, Barrett and Irvine released a big white-shaded beam that went through Sephiroth-Ultimecia's body, exactly where the head of the Sorceress was. The two gunners had just used their last resources, their ultimate bullets: Pulse Ammo. It was worth seeing. Sephiroth wasn't linked to Ultimecia anymore: the Sorceress head had disappeared. There was only this one-winged angel in front of the team. Barrett and Irvine collapsed, wounded but content.

Zell was wounded as well, but he managed to hit Sephiroth with the devastating attack he used against the Giga Bug Queen: the Meteor Barret. Tifa resisted another Thunder spell and hit their opponent with an uppercut. Cid went on with Stilva's spell, also known as Magic Breath. Sephiroth got frozen, burnt and electrified at the same time, but was still floating, even though he seemed to be in a bad state.

"This world will be doomed...", he growled. "And you will be the first... ULTIMA!"

Cid swore. Cloud and Squall crouched with Rinoa and Zell. They were now used to face this category of spell. When the green light faded, none of them could get up, but Squall and Cloud could see Sephiroth rooting to the spot and gradually breaking up: first the dangling tentacles went into dust, then his torso, then his head... A moment later, all that was left of Sephiroth was the name.

"Now we're done, right?", Cloud asked, still lying on the ground. "Is it over?"

"Not... yet...", Rinoa muttered. "Ultimecia... still alive."

"How could she...", Squall answered.

"Non...", Tifa said.

The four fighters had more than enough.

"Look there!", Squall said. "Our comrades!"

The bodies of Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Barrett and Cid had vanished.

"Squall...", a voice sounded.

"Quistis? Where are you?", the SeeD asked.

"Don't worry about us. We are surprised, just like you, to know that Ultimecia is still alive. We would have liked to help you but we could just be a burden for you four."

"Time is consuming us. You'd better make it quick.", Barrett's voice said.

"We're counting on you, guys!", Cid's voice said.

"We're all with you, I know you're gonna win!", Zell's voice concluded. After that, silence...

Squall called for his friends, but no reply came. Time had taken them away.

The two swordsmen made an effort to get back up and rejuvenated Rinoa, Tifa and themselves with many healing spells.

"Now, Ultimecia...", Squall thought as he grabbed his blue-shaded Gunblade. "We will _finally _put an end to the time compression. For the whole world... For Balamb Garden... For our Matron... and for Rinoa."

A circle-shaped explosion filled the sky which went darker. Night fell on the battlefield... but it seemed that the stars were all gathering to something placed below their floating rock. A complete darkness surrounded the team, and an extremely ugly creature turned out of the nothingness. It was four times taller than our heroes, with four pairs of arms, a misshapen body and two sort-of wings going from its hollow skull. The inside of the skull was filled by a small white sphere that was faintly glowing. Under the creature's big red robe, an armless Ultimecia's body was hanging upside down. The time and space were absorbed from this point.

"I am Ultimecia...", the creature said. "Time shall compress... all existence denied..."

"You should deny our existence first...", Squall retorted.

"This Sorceress has many cards in her hand. Well...", Cloud declared. "Let's show her _our_ hand!"

Tifa prepared herself for an attack. Her fists started to radiate. Squall and Cloud made a powerful blow right in the middle of Ultimecia's body. Rinoa shot her Blaster Edge after putting a spell on it. The Edge hit the upper head of the Sorceress with another Ultima to illuminate the battlefield.

Ultimecia called for a Meteor rain upon them... the four fighters, wounded, didn't intend to give up. Tifa proved it as she released her attack: an energetic beam, looking like Bahamut's Flare sprang from her fists and burnt down the Sorceress' lower head. She had indeed, as Cloud mentioned earlier, many cards in her hand... as she saw the Meteors were rather insufficient, she summoned...

"Doomsday!"

Cloud, Tifa, Squall and Rinoa were wrapped in a Shockwave-Pulsar-like spell and were heavily injured. But... Rinoa was feeling something strange in her body... Aeris' power... she had to unleash this power at once!

The girl called Angelo. The dog rushed and leaped in the air with his mistress. Rinoa and her dog took an impossible speed, that could even overtake the Ragnarok... to reach the speed of a shooting star! They crashed into Ultimecia together with a thrilling noise. Less than a second later came a second crash, then a third, a fourth, a fifth... Rinoa and Angelo were moving so fast that Squall, Cloud and Tifa could only see a succession of rays of light piercing through Ultimecia. Twelve hits later, they came back to the ground and Rinoa, extremely tired but proud of her dog, rewarded him with a bone-shaped dog biscuit, and collapsed. Tifa performed her big beam attack again, then Cloud and Squall started a sword slash combo. Ultimecia yelled with pain as she tried to chase them away with her numerous arms, but it was useless. Cloud was striking from everywhere, Squall twirled his Gunblade with a blind rage... until Ultimecia shouted to them:

"Apocalypse!"

Squall had a bad feeling about this... he put his hand inside his jacket. A pentagram appeared around the four people and a disintegration happened inside of it. That was too much for them all... they fell into unconsciousness. Squall removed his hand from his jacket and let something out of it, before succumbing too...

This _something_ was glowing and radiating with the colours of the rainbow... It was a Phoenix Pinion!

Flames outlined the silhouette of the legendary bird, then Phoenix itself came in.

"The battle is not over yet, Ultimecia!", the bird squawked as he sprayed some magnificent multicoloured flames upon the fighters and the Sorceress, who suffocated.

They regained consciousness one by one.

"What happened?", Cloud asked.

"Look behind!", Rinoa told them.

The four had the time to take a glimpse at the red bird before it vanished into darkness.

Realizing how she was turning disadvantaged, Ultimecia told the team:

"Reflect on your... childhood... Your sensations... your words... your emotions..."

"You don't fool me!", Tifa shouted, before punching and kicking the Sorceress.

Ultimecia was going on...

"Time... it will not wait..."

Ultimecia's speech could apparently discourage the whole team. Squall and Cloud had dropped their weapons.

"Shut up!", Rinoa replied angrily, and she cast another Ultima.

"No matter...", the Sorceress continued.

Squall couldn't resist the gloom-marked speech of Ultimecia. It was against his habits to crack under stress and discouragement... Cloud was trying to think about something else... something that was reassuring... he turned to Tifa.

"...how hard you hold on..."

The SeeD was trembling. What could he do in order to silence Ultimecia for ever? Nothing... he was trapped. Cloud remained there, petrified...

"...it escapes you..."

"Squall! Cloud! Do something!", Rinoa and Tifa shouted in despair.

"Rinoa..." Squall thought. Edea's discourse about Sorceresses and their Knights was replaying in his mind. He was feeling Rinoa's distress. He had to do something to soothe this distress at the moment... Being a Sorceress' Knight implied this... or did it not? He had no time to reflect upon this, but just thinking about Rinoa multiplied his strength. Tifa's voice stimulated Cloud the same way. Moreover, the two swordsmen had a common thought: Aeris... Sephiroth's former victim had become their link, their common reason to fight. They both gathered their powers, with a green aura surrounding them.

Ultimecia had just the time to say "And...", because Squall and Cloud dashed to her and struck her body with more and more sword slashes. The two blades were cutting through the air at incredible speed and shredding the Sorceress' body. Squall and Cloud froze in mid-air, brandishing their weapons above their heads, concentrating all their energy before falling back on Ultimecia. The resulting explosion could trap her entire body within. The swordsmen got up and observed their opponent with Rinoa and Tifa, and Angelo. Ultimecia had turned to be a very tough enemy, but she had taken a bit too much wounds... maybe far too much. Her body was wriggling. The glowing ball inside her upper head exploded. Many strands of light came from Ultimecia and blinded the four fighters. Flares, explosions and disintegrations succeeded one another. The upper head was reduced to dust. The eight arms follower after, with a deafening noise. Then the lower part of the Sorceress' body... And all of a sudden, when Ultimecia got totally disintegrated, silence came, and everything turned white...

Infinitely white...

~~

Irvine was in the middle of nowhere. He got up.

"Is... Is it over?", he asked to anyone who could hear him. "Let's go! Let's go back to our time!"

"Shut up. Just calm down and think where we have to go.", Zell said after.

"Careful guys!" Selphie shouted. "Don't pick up the wrong time."

"Sure. We don't want to fall by your place too.", Tifa added.

"In that case... I think it's time to say farewell.", Quistis said casually.

Cid and Barrett came.

"Wow... so we made it?", the juggernaut said, scratching his head.

"Looks like we did it...", Cid answered, as he searched for his pack of cigarettes. "You're right, Quistis... It's time to part now."

"But... where is Squall?", Rinoa asked. "He was with us a minute ago."

"Cloud is missing too.", Tifa noticed.

"Hmmm. No good...", Barrett grunted. "But I hope they're still alive. If you ever see Squall, let him know we all want to thank him."

"Okay.", Selphie replied. "Say goodbye to Cloud from us too!"

"We promise.", Tifa confirmed. "Farewell and good luck to all of you."

The fighters shook hands, then Tifa, Barrett and Cid went to some direction, the SeeD team took the opposite.

The SeeDs were feeling like they were lost... Selphie broke the silence and said:

"Tell me people... do you remember what Laguna told us?"

"Yeah, I do.", Irvine replied. "We have to think about some place... Some place we like to be."

Rinoa heard the words and ran away.

"Rinoa! Where are you going to?", Quistis shouted.

The girl in blue didn't listen. She was running she was gasping for breath. "Time... place... Who I wanna be with?", she thought. "I wanna go there! Where Squall and I promised!"

"Squall! Squall! Where are you?", she called, looking around her.

~~

Some place else... a place bathed in darkness...

Cloud was standing. His gigantic sword was on the ground. He took it back, hung it behind his back and walked. He heard his friends calling his name, Tifa in particular.

"Tifa?", he answered "Tifa, is that you?"

Nobody was coming.

"Squall...", a voice said.

"That voice... Rinoa's voice.", Cloud thought. "Does that mean that... that Squall is lost as I am?"

The young man started to run.

"Damn!", he shouted. "If Squall doesn't make it..."

He was reliving the tragic scene he was forced to see. This scene involving Aeris... He failed to save a life... He didn't wanted it to occur a second time.

"Tifa?... Squall?", he called. "Where are you?"

Suddenly, a familiar place appeared. He looked around him... he was in a house... HIS house, in Nibelheim. He looked outside... it was indeed Nibelheim, with its pit at the centre of the town square. The cry of a newborn child could be heard in the house. He rushed to the living room...

There were two people in the room. None of them paid attention to Cloud.

"What the...", he said.

No reaction. Cloud was invisible to them... he was watching the whole scene like a ghost. He came closer, and saw a man getting on in years, in a white overall, and a young blonde-haired woman, lying on a couch, holding a baby in her arms.

"Calm down, Cloud...", she was saying in a soft voice.

"My... mother!", Cloud thought. "And this... this is me?"

"I'm sure he'll be a strong man.", the man in white said. "He's quite vigorous, for sure."

Cloud understood... He had been sent 21 years before his time, to be sure about one thing: he had been _fathered, _not created as Sephiroth made him believe. All of his life in Nibelheim was real, his childhood memories with Tifa were real as well. As the landscape, the house and the three people disappeared, Cloud felt relieved.

He had finally found the truth about his past.

But Squall, Tifa and his mates were still impossible to find...

~~

"Squall! Let's go home! Where are you?"

"Where am I?", Squall was thinking. He was in a complete darkness as well.

"Squall... where are you going?", another voice said.

"I'm gonna find Sis!".

From the darkness came a dark-haired boy, who passed near Squall.

"Squall!"

A long-black-haired woman in a long black dress followed after. Then darkness faded... and turned out to be the Orphanage, in the past!

"Matron...", Squall said to himself.

The entrance of Edea's ancient home was splendid. Ivy was growing upon the white stone pillars...

Edea faced the young SeeD.

"Excuse-me... Have you seen a little boy?", she asked in a soft voice.

"You don't have to worry...", Squall told her, with a bit of surprise. "The boy won't go anywhere."

"I think so, too. Poor thing...", Edea replied.

Then, suddenly, a purple-shaded smoke emerged at the entrance of the Orphanage, and Ultimecia went out of it.

"She's still alive?", he shouted as he drew his Gunblade.

"The Sorceress?", Edea asked.

"Yes, Matron... We had defeated her... Matron, stand back!", Squall answered.

"It's ok. There's no more need to fight. The Sorceress is just looking for someone to pass her powers on to. In order to die in peace, a Sorceress must be free of all her powers. I know... for I am one too. I shall take over that Sorceress' powers. I do not want one of the children to become one."

Edea slowly marched towards Ultimecia. Squall sheathed his Gunblade. He could hear the Sorceress moaning: "I... can't... disappear yet!"

"Matron..."

Purple flares sprayed from Ultimecia's body and penetrated Edea's. As Ultimecia vanished, this time for good, Edea fell to her knees.

"So, is this... the end?", she asked.

"Most likely...", Squall said.

Edea looked up and observed Squall with a questioning look.

"You called me Matron, but who are you?"

"A SeeD. A SeeD from Balamb Garden.", Squall naturally replied.

Edea's surprise was growing.

"SeeD? Garden?"

"Both Garden and SeeD were your ideas.", Squall explained. "Garden trains SeeDs. SeeDs are trained to defeat the Sorceress."

Edea got up, and took a closer look to Squall...

"What are you saying? You're... that boy from the future?", she finally asked.

Squall looked down and whispered:

"Matron..."

"Please return. You do not belong here.", she fearfully told her.

The little boy, who was nobody else but Squall himself, came back to the Orphanage's entrance.

"I can't find Sis... Am I... all alone?", he sadly asked Edea. Then, seeing his double: "Who's he?"

"Just an adult you don't need to know.", Edea said to the little Squall.

The Matron turned to the taller one and asked him in a murmur:

"Do you know where to go back to? Do you know how? Will you be all right by yourself?"

Squall saluted and answered:

"I'll be all right, Matron..."

The Orphanage, then Edea and the little Squall faded into darkness.

"...because I'm not alone.", Squall said to himself. "I'm not alone. If I call out, they will answer."

"Where's everyone?", he called out. "Rinoa! Where are you? Zell! Selphie! Quistis! Irvine!... Barrett? Cid? Tifa! Cloud!"

No reply.

"Rinoa!"

Still no reply.

"Am I... alone?"

Squall started to run desperately in the darkness.

"Rinoa... I want to hear your voice!", he was thinking. "Which way do I go? I can't make it back alone!"

"RINOA!!!", he yelled.

Nothing...

"Am I... all alone again? Where... am I?"

Squall felt he was falling...

~~

...to land, some time later. The landscape waved, then stabilized. Squall found himself in some rocky desert plains. The sky was cloudy and green, and the plains were looking infinite... "Whatever...", Squall thought, shrugging and sighing.

He went on walking... he walked...

Aimlessly... 

Endlessly... 

For minutes... for hours... How long?

The sky went darker and darker... Squall could hardly make a single pace.

He reached the edge of an abyss, and looked around him... he was on a floating piece of rock in the middle of nowhere! Overcome by tiredness and despair, Squall let himself fall on the ground, sitting.

~~

Somewhere else, in a grassy land, Rinoa was running and calling for Squall. The girl searched everywhere... Squall was still out of sight.

As she was on the verge of crying, she took the two rings attached to her necklace, hers and Squall's, with the lion's head, and hold them in her hand.

~~

Alone on his rock, Squall had no clue about what to do. He saw something falling from the sky. It was a white feather.

"Rinoa...", he said. He saw the feather floating in the air and making a spiral fall to him. He was keeping his eyes on it. The feather descended near his face and gently landed in his hand. Squall closed his fingers on it...

He was immediately transported to a flower field. Rinoa was there! He was right behind her. He saw, as a fleeting glimpse, two white wings spreading from the girl's back, then vanishing. He called her.

"Rinoa!"

She didn't answer nor move. He repeated her name, with a begging voice. She slowly turned her... distorting face to him...

"What...!", he thought.

...

Squall was reliving the ball scene, the very moment when he met her. He could hear a waltz being played. Rinoa was in her formal suit. She looked at him, smiled and raised her index in the air.

The scene replayed, but Rinoa's face distorted.

The same scene went once again. Rinoa had a blurred face.

The scene replayed, with wrong notes played in the waltz. Squall saw Rinoa's head warping more and more... blurring... disappearing. Rinoa was vanishing, coming back... Her features were unrecognisable...

Squall didn't have a clue about what was going on. He glimpsed Rinoa in a space suit, at the time he had saved her in outer space. Then came the two rings, floating in the air, then Rinoa for a short time, then the X-ATM092 machine dashing right to him! A machinegun appeared after, Quistis was firing it. Squall saw Zell waving at him to jump, Rinoa frightened by Edea's Ice Strikes, Selphie and Irvine... the machinegun burst continued, it was the Ragnarok's... then Barrett's... The juggernaut's head appeared, followed by Cid, smoking a cigarette, then Tifa, then Cloud, waving his sword the same way Squall retorted to Seifer, causing him a scar as well. Rinoa appeared upon Balamb Garden's balcony, her hair in the wind, but her face horribly scrambled... then a glimpse of Seifer and Rinoa in front of Adel's prison... then Dollet's Comm Tower...

An explosion later, Squall felt hurled from Deling City's merry-go-round to the Arc where the SeeD team once ambushed Edea. But the Arc turned into Balamb's Garden's ball room. Rinoa came to him, still hidden by a blur. She raised her finger in the air, the waltz music started over, then the ball room started to whirl. Rinoa disappeared and reappeared... All of the souvenirs of Squall appeared as the room was whirling faster... Cloud's team was also part of those souvenirs... Ultimecia's face popped up, quickly replaced by Rinoa's face, then Edea, Aeris, Sephiroth, Ultimecia, Rinoa, Edea, Aeris, Sephiroth, faster and faster, while the waltz turned to be a unbearable noise. He saw Sephiroth raising his sword and holding it blade down... then Rinoa, still blurred and deformed, was leaping to Squall as in the Sorceress Memorial... then everything was replaced by the outer space scene... Rinoa's space suit helmet shattered, revealing Rinoa, fairly distinguishable... but _DEAD!_

Squall wanted to yell... but a hoarse gasp was all that could get out of his mouth, while, maybe for the first time in years, a tear rolled down his cheek. He fell hard on the ground, while a bright white light blinded him and absorbed him.

The feather he was holding in his hand slowly fell, then immobilized itself on the ground...

~~

Later... but when?... Footsteps were sounding in the darkness. The feather was still there. A gloved hand picked it up... It was Cloud's.

"A white feather... Hey... Rinoa's cape thing has got two white wings painted on the back...", he thought.. "No... something must be wrong there..."

His deepest fears were confirmed: he met Squall lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Squall?", Cloud shouted. "Squall? You hear me?"

He knelt down to the SeeD and attempted to get him up, but at the time he touched him, Squall's head, _void and hollow as a black hole _came to him as a fleeting glimpse. Cloud backed down, scared.

Squall slowly opened his eyes and moaned: "Rinoa left me..."

"Squall... you got to pull yourself together!", Cloud said. Hearing the words, Squall looked at his comrade.

"Is this you... Cloud?", he muttered. "You're... still here?"

"Yes, I am really here, and Rinoa must be somewhere too... She was keeping on calling your name some time ago."

This piece of news perked Squall's morale up. He could finally sit.

"So... this was a dream?", he said

"What?"

"I thought Rinoa had... abandoned me."

"It must be an illusion caused by time compression... or by something else.", Cloud tried to explain.

The swordsman had like a jolt. "And I think who's responsible... Sephiroth."

"No! That's impossible!", Squall protested.

"It is possible... I'm feeling him... he's still alive... he's laughing at me. He's laughing at US!"

The machiavellian laugh of Sephiroth echoed in the dark. The man with long white hair came in, bare-chest, only wearing his black pants. He was still carrying his long sword. Squall got up in a flash and grabbed his Gunblade. Cloud drew his weapon too.

Both of them were staring at Sephiroth with their eyes filled with hatred. Their opponent was staying there, impassive, returning the same dark look. However, Cloud and Squall knew they couldn't remain calm for long, as they were shaking... Their rage was too strong... Mixed with Aeris' gift, it was impossible to contain. So they dashed to Sephiroth and assailed him with multiple sword slashes, hitting him along with a lot of pyrotechnical effects.

"Up to you, Cloud!", Squall declared.

Cloud leaped high in the air, landed hardly upon Sephiroth and caused an outstanding explosion where his sword hit.

Sephiroth staggered. His hatred was replaced by pure amazement. He stood there for a while, gaping at Cloud, with blood in his face. He wasn't smiling anymore...

"Why did I consider you... as a puppet?", he muttered. Then came from his body many strands of green and red light that disintegrated him.

It was all over for the two brothers in arms...

"And now? What shall we do?", Cloud asked.

"You return to your respective times.", a voice said, making Squall jump.

"Griever?", he asked.

"It's the name Ultimecia gave to me, though I have neither name nor own appearance. This single thing about me is true: I am a Guardian Force, as Eden is, and my mission is to watch over the flow of time, also called the Timestream. I was with you since the very start, since Ultimecia made her leap through time that condemned her in the future. Besides, the Cetras summoned for my help to do this. But Ultimecia corrupted my powers... and spread chaos and mayhem in your time, Squall. My power, combined with this time machine this Doctor Odine has or will have created, was sufficient to go back through time and bring Sephiroth in her time. She could have continued what she planned to do with Jenova, but you triumphed over them both. Thanks to you, I'm now free from Ultimecia's grasp. Thank you very much."

"Although time compression had ceased and your friends are safe, your minds are both stuck in a space-time warp. I can nevertheless take you out of it without problem, and without pain. This won't be too long for you, Cloud. As for you, Squall, you'll have to wait until you'll find your body back in your time. Don't worry, I'll try to be quick..."

"Well, then... thanks for everything, Squall.", Cloud said, shaking his hand. "Good luck to you for the rest of your life."

"You too.", Squall replied, almost smiling.

"Farewell, brave warriors, and thanks again...", Griever went on.

Cloud saw Squall freezing and vanishing. Time had taken him away. Squall felt himself moving so fast that he fell unconscious again.

****

Author's note : it's not over...

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


	13. Finally back home...

****

BROTHERS IN ARMS

by **Digintegrated** - **Hunter Bill**

****

Disclaimer : For the last time... no, you already know it. GO SQUARESOFT!

-~-

****

CHAPTER 13

FINALLY BACK HOME...

-~-

Cloud felt he was carried over places for a minute... to land once again into darkness.

"I hope Griever made no mistake," he said, "otherwise..."

He shouldn't have doubted. Many rays of green, then red light were springing from his feet and spiralling around his body.

"... The Lifestream?"

A column of white light surrounded him. He looked up... and saw a hand outstretched to him. He raised his hand in return, and his face was filled with bliss...

"Aeris!", he thought.

"Cloud!!!", a voice yelled.

It was Tifa, calling for Cloud from the edge of the pit. The abyss leading to the heart of the Planet was submitted to a violent earthquake. Cloud came to and realized that the ledge he was standing was going into a dangerous collapse! With a burst of speed, the swordsman ran to her, leaped from ledge to ledge and just caught Tifa who was falling in the void. He then hung onto the edge.

"Now I've understood...", he said.

"What?"

"An answer from the Planet... The Promised Land... Maybe I can meet her there... again."

"Yeah, you may be right...", Tifa replied.

He hoisted himself onto the edge of the pit, holding Tifa in his left arm. Once they were safe, he asked:

"Hey, where's everyone?"

"Heeey!", Barrett was calling.

All of Cloud and Tifa's friends were at the opposite side of the hole: not only Barrett and Cid, but also the four people who were not dragged into the time compression, Red XIII who was licking his paws, Cait Sith, bouncing upon his big white plushie, Vincent who greeted him with a sigh of his hand and Yuffie, rejoiced as well.

"I'm happy to see you're all safe!", Tifa told them all, waving her hand.

Barrett turned to Cid and said:

"Now everyone's here, what's going to happen now?"

Red XIII started with a sullen voice.

"Holy will be moving soon, so this place is going to..."

"Uh oh!", Yuffie said.

"I don't want to shock you but I'm not sure we're gonna make it...", Vincent said in a deep tone.

"Oh Lady Luck don't fail me now...", Cid said, looking up.

A low groaning, growing louder and louder, echoed in the cave. A big ship was crashing into the hole. It stopped at the party's level... it was the Highwind, the airship they used to get down the Northern Crater. Without thinking, they all climbed in it.

Then came the shock... a formidable concentration of energy hurled the Highwind outside the crater. The ship was endangered for it was falling and losing its hull and motors! In the cockpit, it was chaos. However, Cid, hanging to whatever he could, managed to activate the emergency system of the Highwind. An explosion appeared behind the ship, then new wings spread from the hull and stabilized the ship. The Highwind and all the team were now safe. Cid led them all to Midgar.

It was a catastrophe. The Meteor was only a few yards away from the fortress. Red vortexes started to wipe the entire city out... but a wave of white energy appeared from the North and set between Midgar and Meteor. It was Holy. For a brief period of time, the eight heroes thought it was all over. But, to their surprise, the Meteor penetrated the energy wave, which turned from white to red. Holy wasn't sufficient.

"Wait a damn minute... what's gonna happen to Midgar?", Barrett roared, banging his fist on one of the walls of the Highwind. "We can't let THAT happen!"

"I had everyone take refuge in the slums...", Cait Sith said in a sad voice, scratching his eyes with his gloved hand. "but the way things are now..."

"It's too late for Holy...", Red XIII declared. "Meteor is approaching the Planet, Holy is having the opposite effect. Forget Midgar, we've gotta worry about the Planet."

Cloud was hiding away in a corner, while Tifa was fearfully watching the scene. "Was it useful to go through all those centuries? I wonder... Why is the Meteor still there?", he was saying to himself... "Sorry Squall, I failed..."

But then...

"What's that?", Tifa said in surprise.

Somewhere in the ground, a pinprick of green light had emerged from it and was waving like ivy over a wall. Another opening appeared, letting out another beam. Then a third...

"What the hell IS this?", Barrett roared.

Cloud said nothing.

"The Lifestream...", he thought.

From the Highwind, the eight people had focused all their attention to the situation. A dozen, then a hundred light green strands of light were getting out of the ground, gathering and converging towards the Meteor... The Lifestream... Thousands of rays were coming to Midgar... Millions... Billions... The planet surface was entirely covered with light green! This huge amount of energy stuck to the Meteor and began to dissolve it. The resulting light blinded everyone...

As the light faded away, Cloud and his mates saw an almost entirely destroyed Midgar... but the Meteor was gone for good. The entire team acclaimed with joy, except for Vincent who sighed with relief. Cloud and Tifa hugged each other, Yuffie was bouncing around, Red XIII was growling happily.

"We would never have made it without Aeris.", Cloud said.

"Yeah, you're right...", Barrett nodded.

"By the way...", he went on. "Aeris told me she thanks everyone of you."

"Hey... how come...?", Cid asked with stupefaction, while all the people were staring at Cloud and Tifa with surprise.

"It's a long story, but we have all the time to tell it to you all...", Tifa answered.

"You'll say it later, Tifa, I can't wait to see Marlene, you know."

"As you wish, Barrett. Let's head for Kalm!", Cid announced, playing with the Highwind's commands.

While the ship was heading to the neighbour village, Cloud muttered to Tifa.

"Nevertheless..."

He couldn't finish. Yuffie was standing next to him and asked:

"And how about the Materia, then? Remember that you must give them all to me when it's all over?"

Cloud cleared his throat.

"Can't you just leave us alone? Have you got interest in anything apart from the Materia?"

"Frankly", Yuffie replied before squeezing her belly with both hands, "I don't know, and I don't wish to discuss about it... Uuurk... my belly!"

She rushed to the machinery room.

"This girl will always remain herself...", Vincent noticed.

"That's what I'm thinking too...", Cloud nodded.

"But on the other hand, I think I'm no longer myself anymore...", the caped man went on.

"What do you mean?", Tifa asked.

"Since I met you I was feeling different. Not only I have finally got my revenge over Hojo but I've also learned to make friends. Thanks to you of course..."

"I'm happy to hear that from you, Vincent.", Cloud said with enthusiasm, before turning back to Tifa.

It was dawn. The Highwind had landed near the village. The couple could see, from the main window, Barrett running to the town square, and Marlene coming towards him, saying "Daddy!"

"I was saying... nevertheless, we wouldn't have made it without Squall, Rinoa and the other people from the future.", Cloud muttered to Tifa.

"I hope they're all right.", Tifa said.

~~

Thousands of years in the future...

Balamb Garden, always splendid, was docked in Fisherman's Horizon...

Nida was dozing on the rudder, in the control room. Suddenly, the intercom crackled.

"Balamb Garden? Balamb Garden? Ragnarok here. Do you read me?"

Nida got up in a hurry and grabbed the microphone.

"Nida here. What's on, Xu?"

"Nida? I'm glad to hear you again!", Xu's voice went on in the intercom. "Tell me, could you move the Garden to Edea's House?"

"You can normally take the Ragnarok to land in FH, don't you know this?"

"We don't have enough fuel to do this. The Ragnarok would run out of fuel before going to Esthar if we did it."

"Okay, I'm going. Have you got news from Squall and the other SeeDs?"

"Er...", Xu's voice became hesitating. "I prefer you'd get to see by yourself... it's hard to say it."

"How?"

"I can't say it, I just can't find words for it. Come to the Orphanage, you'll understand."

The transmission went out. Nida ignited the engines of the Garden and headed to Edea's former house.

Balamb Garden landed upon the grasslands of the Cape of Good Hope. The Ragnarok had landed there too. The flower field, visible from the Orphanage, was nearby. Nida ran to the Ragnarok but stopped dead as he noticed a really sad scene.

Rinoa was on her knees in the flower field, and she was desperately hugging Squall's lifeless body.

"Oh my...", he thought. "Rinoa... Squall..."

Rinoa lifted her head up, but remained speechless. Her eyes were full of tears. Then Xu went out of the Ragnarok, followed by Angelo, Zell, Quistis, Selphie et Irvine, and the other members of the CC group. All of them were horrified.

"Rinoa...", Xu said, "now the Garden is here, we'd better take Squall to the infirmary, okay?"

Rinoa nodded. Nida helped her to carry Squall inside the building.

~~

Later, in the infirmary...

"Probably a coma.", Dr Kadowaki said. "To tell you more, you were in the same state some time ago."

Rinoa looked one more time at Squall's body, lying on the bed, still motionless.

"You think he's going to make it?", Rinoa asked.

"I have no idea.", the Doctor answered. "We cannot predict if he will make it or not. And if he will, nobody knows how much time it would take. However, I won't prevent you from watching over him if you want to. I allowed Squall to do so when you were comatose too."

"Thanks Madam.", Rinoa said, before returning near Squall.

Edea came into the room. She was not in the costume she used to wear when she was under Ultimecia's influence. The purple robe with furred collar was replaced by a plain long black dress. Moreover, Edea's hair had regrown. She had taken her former appearance. She had become "the Matron" again. Rinoa had however no problem to recognize her.

"Mrs Kramer?", Rinoa asked.

"Yes, Rinoa.", Edea started in a sad voice. "I have been shocked as well when I learned what happened to Squall, and I perfectly understand how you feel."

"You're a Sorceress, aren't you?", Rinoa asked. "Can you do something for him?"

"Alas no...", Edea continued. "My powers aren't what they used to be, although I can still defend myself with my Ice Strikes."

Rinoa recalled the tragic event undergoing under the Arc in Deling City... Edea summoning the ice spears and hurling one right into Squall's chest... she burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, Rinoa. I should have said it in another way..."

"No...", the girl managed to say between two sobs. "It is not... your fault... Ultimecia is... the only responsible."

"True...", Edea approved, looking down in sadness.

"Squall... can't... die.", Rinoa went on, still sobbing. "I know it... because..."

She dried her tears and said:

"Because I can feel it... somewhere, I know he's still alive."

Edea couldn't respond.

"I have to stay here.", Rinoa said at last. "I'm sure he'll make it."

"I appreciate your determination, Rinoa... In that case, whatever you do, never lose hope.", Edea replied before leaving the infirmary.

~~

Night had fallen. Rinoa had spent all the day in the infirmary. She had even refused to leave the place, even for eating something. The girl was still waiting for Squall to come to, but in the middle of the night, sleep had taken her over. She had laid her head upon the young man's body, still lifeless.

What had she done to deserve this?

She just wanted to defend herself against the one who manipulated her, and who was the real source of all those conflicts.

Why was fate hounding her?

Rinoa was sleeping... but she didn't feel that Squall's body was becoming warmer and warmer...

"Rinoa..."

It was Squall. The leap through time from the Meteor until his current time had driven him to unconsciousness, but he was slowly coming to. Rinoa was still asleep...

"Rinoa...", Squall repeated, as he opened his eyes. The SeeD looked around him. His vision became sharper and clearer. He realized he was in the Garden's infirmary... and he noticed Rinoa, real, visible and, most important, _alive_ was by his side. He slowly extended his hand to her face and touched her cheek. It _was_ her. He wasn't dreaming anymore.

Rinoa winked, opened her eyes and faced Squall's look...

In a fraction of a second, the two were literally stuck to each other.

"Oh Squall... Squall!". Rinoa was crying with joy.

"Rinoa...". Squall couldn't contain his excitement either. Rinoa saw, with surprise...

"Hey... you're crying too?", she said softly.

"Oh, this...", Squall started but abruptly stopped. It wasn't indeed his habit to show his feelings, but as long as Rinoa was the only one to know...

"See, Squall, it's natural...", Rinoa told him as he was drying his tears.

"I know... I didn't wanted the others to know. Until you came..."

Rinoa laughed.

"Don't worry! This will remain between us, okay?"

"Okay.", Squall said as he got up.

A sheet of paper fell from his leather jacket. Squall picked it up and unfolded it. It was a letter.

__

Dear Squall...

I threw this letter in the Lifestream, hoping that Aeris or Eden would pass it to you. We've all made it back alive, and as you probably guessed it, the Meteor is no more...

"A letter from Cloud?", Rinoa exclaimed.

"Incredible...", Squall said.

__

Aeris had to summon the Lifestream to fight against this big rock. Now the danger is gone, vegetation has started up again in the deserts surrounding Midgar. As for us all, Cid is working upon another rocket, Barrett has come back in his coal mine village and has been able to implant an artificial hand in place of his machinegun, and Tifa and I will soon be married. I met some people from Nibelheim that used to know us during childhood. So we went back there with them to repopulate this abandoned village.

Pass my best wishes to Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine and Rinoa. Good luck to all of you for the rest of your life.

Cloud Strife

Rinoa was gazing into space while she listened to Squall reading the letter.

"I really think I'm going to love this life... now that I'm with you.", she finally said with a smile.

For the first time, Squall returned her smile.

****

Author's note : Phew... man, I can't believe it's really over now!... I decided to cut the last chapter and create a 13th one because I thought Chapter 12, 'The Extreme' was going to be a bit too long... Now I think I'm going to rest a bit and take some more time to study some cool video games, Final Fantasy 10 for example! ^_^

If you enjoyed my work and wish to post it on some site, then e-mail me first at:

hunter-gc@altavista.net . I'll reply as fast as possible.

~~

Thanks to all of the people from Squaresoft for making such an oustandimidable series, and especially Mr Nomura and Amano for the graphics, Mr Uematsu for the aw-man-it's-so-good music, all the FMV animators for the videos and of course Mr Sagakuchi for leading it all! Go Squaresoft!

Thanks to all of my reviewers: Little Miss Anarchy / Sealion (tricky FF9 boss isn't it?), Kismit, Shadowrune12, Sha a.k.a. Gemini83, Callo Me!, Steven, Angel, Saian Girl, Race Ulfson, Sadia Fiore, Rosa Heartlily, Valerian, Brenton Braswell, Raven, Rejeana Maleski, Yuffie143, Chaos Syko a.k.a. Mauka Icefire, Bea-chan (Beatrix is nice!), Veemongal a.k.a. Nips, Ghouly Ghoul, Angelmae_cd, Aeris (yeah, the fanfic writer of course, not the character!), Starvoicereason and Fluffball. Hope I haven't forgotten... Ah, also thanks to the people who reviewed my other FF stories and to Aimee for dropping a comment about my poem. 

Very special regards to Mandy a.k.a. Lady Aliena, Gaia a.k.a. The Umbra and of course Belphegor without whom I would probably never have got the idea of writing a crossover.

F R I E N D L Y - F E E L I N G S !

~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~


End file.
